Letter to the Editor:
Video Proof – APS Caught Lying

By Warren Woodward, Sedona Resident
(January 30, 2014)

APS is lying about the intensity of their “smart” meter transmissions.

In my letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission (following) there is a Youtube link to video proof of their lying. The video shows APS “smart” meters transmitting at over 400% stronger than APS claims, and about 20 times stronger than cell towers at 30 yards.As I ask in the letter, “If APS is lying intentionally, one must ask why. If APS is lying unintentionally then isn’t the public being placed at risk by a monopoly utility so inept that they do not even understand the technology they are using?”

As I establish in the letter — and most unfortunately for Arizonans — the ACC’s lackadaisical and negligent approach to regulating has become such an established pattern, and the ACC’s indifference to the repeated lying of utilities so routine, that I now see the ACC as complicit in those lies, and as willing accomplices in fraud.

###

January 29, 2014

Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC)
Docket Control Center
1200 West Washington Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Re: Docket # E-00000C-11-0328

Commissioners;

I caught APS lying about the microwave transmissions of their “smart” meters early last year. I brought it to your attention and, characteristically, you did absolutely nothing.

If you see it, will you believe it and do something about it now? Search Youtube for my name and APS Caught Lying and you will see APS “smart” meters broadcasting at over 400% more than the intensity claimed by APS in their dishonest and fraudulent “Myth vs Fact” sheet that APS sends to ratepayers and displays at their website (here: ).

In their “Myth vs Fact” sheet, APS claims their “smart” meters transmit microwaves at a strength of .0009 milliwatts per centimeter squared at 10 feet away. In my video you will see APS meters transmitting at .00389 milliwatts per centimeter squared. My equipment measures in microwatts per meter squared. The 38,900 microwatts per meter squared that I recorded in the video converts to .00389 milliwatts  per centimeter squared. I suspect that APS uses milliwatts  per centimeter squared because the numbers then seem much smaller and therefore give the impression of being less threatening. In any case, APS is lying — and by 432%. I proved it.

In the video, note also the comparison with cell towers and that the APS “smart” meters are 20 times the intensity of being about 30 yards away from some major cell towers.

The same questions I posed in my recent letter to you in which I exposed Navopache Electric lying about their “smart” meter transmissions apply in this instance as well. [http://images.edocket.azcc.gov/docketpdf/0000150913.pdf]

If “smart” meter microwave radiation is no big deal, why are utilities nationwide — including APS — lying about it?

Why are the monopoly utilities allowed to lie and deceive the public?

How can ratepayers be expected to make informed decisions if their utility is allowed to lie to them?

If APS is lying intentionally, one must ask why. If APS is lying unintentionally then isn’t the public being placed at risk by a monopoly utility so inept that they do not even understand the technology they are using? In either case, an immediate, thorough investigation by you is called for. In either case – and at the very least – shouldn’t APS be required to tell the truth about their “smart” meter transmissions with the same vigor and zeal with which they lied about their “smart” meter transmissions?

Why haven’t you gotten a microwave analyzer and checked up on these false utility claims like I have been insisting you do for over two years?

Why am I doing the work and research you should be doing with your multimillion dollar budget and hired help?

When are you going to actually regulate instead of vegetate?

Over the last two and a half years I have caught APS lying about almost all other aspects of their “smart” meters and you’ve done nothing. For example, the lies told in APS’s extortion fee request for those ratepayers who refuse a ‘smart” meter are almost too numerous to count. In that request APS is so completely dishonest they even sliced and diced a quote from a 2007 ACC decision to make the quote suit their purpose. [http://images.edocket.azcc.gov/docketpdf/0000144218.pdf]

I have brought all that and more to your attention, yet you remain complacent and allow this mendacious company to perpetuate a fraud. Again, why is this monopoly is allowed to lie and deceive the public?

Is it because of the money APS funneled (and lied about) to the election campaigns of ACC commissioners Bob Burns, Susan Smith and Bob Stump? [http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/20131109arizona-utilities-cash-went-acc-campaigns.html]

The Arizona Republic also caught APS lying about the funding of APS’s solar net metering negative advertising campaign. [http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/20131030regulator-calls-out-solar-campaigns.html]. Your response was to reward the liars with a new fee from solar customers. Disgraceful!

Commissioner Bob Burns asked the players involved in the solar net metering issue, including APS, for information about their advertising spending amounts. But no one he asked was under oath! Imagine – he must have expected serial liars to suddenly volunteer the truth. In my opinion, Burns’ “investigation” was strictly for show.

And just like at previous ACC “smart” meter meetings, no one was under oath at the recent solar net metering meeting. Without formal hearings in which companies are under oath, companies can — and have — lied with impunity.

Commissioners, your lackadaisical and negligent approach to regulating is such an established pattern – especially when APS is involved – that I no longer see it as inadvertent. Your indifference to the repeated lying of utilities has become routine. So I now see you as complicit in those lies, and as willing accomplices in fraud.  

Sincerely,
Warren Woodward

Cc: Governor Jan Brewer, Attorney General Tom Horne