To the Editor,
Re: Hydro meters a health hazard, Letters, April 3.
The radio-frequency signals B.C. Hydro’s smart meters use to communicate are safe.
The signals are similar to those used for decades by televisions, radios and other common household devices. After decades of research, health authorities have confirmed that there are no demonstrable health effects from exposure to low-level radio frequency signals, and B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, Health Canada and the World Health Organization have all confirmed that wireless meters pose no known health risks.
B.C. Hydro’s smart meters have been independently tested and were shown to communicate for about 1.4 seconds per day at a signal strength less than 0.5 per cent of Health Canada’s Safety Code 6, the official radio frequency exposure limit within Canada.
To put this into context, passengers taking the ferry between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay are exposed to the equivalent of 35 years’ worth of B.C. Hydro smart meter radio frequency in a single hour-and-40-minute journey.
Fiona TaylorDirector of Smart MeteringB.C. Hydro