Upper Saddle River Meeting On Smart Meters – A Resident’s Perspective

Upper Saddle River Mayor & Council Meeting September 6, 2018 – One resident’s perspective:

Several residents attended the USR M&C 9/6/18 meeting despite the fact that the USR borough bulletin had a typo publishing the meeting date as 9/12 instead of the actual 9/6, so many who had planned to attend were not there. (USR Website & FB Page were also incorrect and not changed until after 3:00 when residents alerted the town to the error.)
Yes, 4 members from Rockland Electric were there but the public was NOT notified that they would be there and they were NOT on the agenda. Hmmm.

Informative? No. Marketing expertise? Yes!

You should do your own due diligence and decide for yourself. However, there are many unanswered questions that will remain unanswered until this RF “experiment” is completed and studied, as per BPU. (Board of Public Utility) (Google –  Mahwah/smart meters/pilot program)
No other utility will be authorized to install these “smart” meters until this Rockland experiment ends, which is expected to be around 2019. Many in Mahwah have already completed a billing cycle and expressed that their bills have gone up significantly (also on line). There are health questions for which the MARKETING team had their stock answers. None were medical experts or engineers. There are safety questions that were not discussed (Google articles re: smart meters arcing/explosions), and more.

Many have already opted out (and will be paying the $15 opt out monthly fee for the privilege of not having a “smart” meter pulsing RF on their house 24/7) but have an issue with an “opt out meter” being installed by a TECHNICIAN, including a 3rd party vendor hired to help with the installation, removing and replacing a meter that is an integral part of the whole house back-up generator system that was installed (many were installed after being out for numerous days during Hurricane Sandy) and which required that they hire a LICENSED electrician and a LICENSED plumber and get town permits & approvals!
There is a video of the meeting.

If you had been at the meeting, where this O&R marketing team appeared with No Notice to the public. you would have heard a lot of bal bla bla as we, as those who were at the meeting, heard.
Re: Scerbo’s (in charge of the SM program) comment about how great it is to be able to “ping all 20 houses in an area to see exactly which one of the 20 was out” is nonsense and more of their prepared marketing stock answers, and has been stated as a “good reason to proceed”. Ridiculous! Most, if not all, who are/were out call(ed) Rockland Electeic and give/gave their address every single day that we are/were out of power, so they know the exact address, without the invasive “ping” to all the neighbors.
Only stock answers were spoken! Councilman Steve DiMartino asked them a simple “yes or no” question & had to ask it twice re: USR’s cost to opt out being $15 p/mo vs NY’s electric opt out being $10 p/mo (50% higher p/mo!)and Scerbo was UNABLE to simply answer “Yes” to the question but instead had to stand up and give their long winded stock reply, which boiled down to a “yes” anyway.

Many have opted out, but you know there is power in numbers, and the mayor’s public suggestion that any one individual alone go to BPU or Governor Murphy is also ridiculous and unrealistic. Just as our Boro Attorney wrote to them representing the town to request removal of the opt out fee for the town, (doubtful that the $15 p/mo is the primary objection of anyone opting out, but the objection to having RF pulsing on one’s house 24/7) but the TOWN going to BHU or Governor Murphy would obviously carry more weight.

Attend the next meeting 10/4, 8pm public, and let the M&C know this matters to you!

Mayor & Council Thursday October 4, 2018 8pm