BY KEN DAIGE
Electric customers would be more comfortable with proven independent studies, whether scientific, technical or health-related.
It is the responsibility of FP&L to show that smart meters are safe, risk free and non-invasive.
Customers are concerned with the smart meter wireless system being hacked and what information about themselves is vulnerable. Customers do not like others knowing when they are or are not home.
Power companies like smart meters because as electric providers they are not always able to meet the demand for power consumption and smart meters are being sold as a tool to help customers conserve energy thereby easing the demand on the power company grid.
Smart meters do not put more control over the use of electricity in the hands of the consumer. Unless the consumer has smart appliances smart meters control nothing except voltage which power companies lower in response to demand. Customers notice this when their lights dim. This lower voltage will adversely affect older appliances including air conditioning and heating units.
Power companies use surges and brown-outs to create usage which is profit to the power company. Power companies also use peak times as rate calculation for billing.
Vero electric does not use these practices.
With smart meters less employees are needed, more money for share holders. With a private company the issue is more one of money to the share holders, convenience for the power company and less concentration on consumer eccentricities.
Municipals have to address public safety and usage.
Indian River Guardian 
Do you want employees at FP&L knowing when you are home and when you are away? Do you want hackers knowing as well? Don’t you cancel your paper delivery and have your mail held when you leave town? Some of us leave radios playing and have lights on timers so that it will appear as if we are still at home so as to prevent break-ins. Why would we want to alert FP&L employees that we are away?
Using Smart Meters is another way for FP&L to cut back on jobs and put a few more decent people out of work in order to increase their profits and decrease their expenses.
Wake up folks. FP&L is not in business to make things better for their customers. They are out to make a profit and as big a profit as possible. Vero Electric Utility is helping to support our fair City. It is helping to pay for our police department. It is helping to keep our property taxes from skyrocketing and they don’t use smart meters to do that.
BE SURE TO GET OUT AND VOTE NO on March 12th.