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By January 1, 2021, everyone in Norway will have installed new digital electricity meters. It is the Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy that has decided that everyone should have the new electricity meters.
The department director, Ole Flataker, says they are, so to speak, at the finish line.
– 2.9 million meters have already been installed in the fuse boxes of almost every home and commercial building in the country. We’re almost at the finish line with one of the biggest electrical upgrades of modern times, says Flataker.
25,000 may lose energy
Six weeks before the deadline expires, there are still 25,000 people who refuse the power companies to install the new smart meters.
Ole Flataker at NVE shows how smart meters work. Photo: Stein Akre
– There are those who oppose it. Five thousand have submitted statements from doctors that they are sensitive to electricity, while many others say they feel monitored.
Male mother Skøyen Grue is one of 25,000 who refuse. He lives in a semi-detached house in Nøtterøy and has submitted a medical certificate to avoid installing a new electricity meter.
Skøyen Grue has now been notified that Skagerak Energi will cut the power supply if it does not agree to install a new meter.
Male mother Skøyen Grue will keep her old digital meter. Photo: Stein Akre
– These new meters have built-in transmitters that continuously send information about energy consumption to the energy company. I get sick from radiation. I refuse to be a guinea pig who ends up dying of cancer in five years, says Skøyen Grue.
End up in court
The male mother, Skøyen Grue, is one of many who have gone to court to avoid being without power until winter. Skagerak Energi is one of several companies that have received legal proceedings against it this fall.
Communications manager Thor Bjørn Omnes says they have 18 customers still rejecting new meters.
– We believe that we have the right to choose the measurement equipment we want, and we have announced that we will cut the power if they do not accept it. But then they have been granted a court order, which means that we are now postponing the power outage until there is a legal clarification on the whole issue.
Thor Bjørn Omnes, communications director at Skagerak Energi, denies that smart meters are dangerous to health. Photo: Stein Akre
– When is it expected?
– We don’t know exactly that yet. It remains to be seen how this ends. We do not want to take our own clients to court and we really hope that the authorities will provide clarification.
Hannemor Skøyen Grue is ready to fight and believes that NVE has made exceptions.
– NVE has said that you can drop out if you have a medical certificate and have a low and stable energy consumption. I hope we can work out an arrangement so that those of us with special needs don’t have to bring this into our homes.
Lars Klæboe is a senior advisor to the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, and is among those with the most radiation experience in Norway. He denies that the new electricity meters can be harmful.
– Not based on what science is today. No one has succeeded in showing that such a low exposure (0.5 watts) is harmful to health, Klæboe tells TV 2.
