by Kim Goldberg
It doesn’t take much to barricade your electrical meter. A piece of plywood or even a freezer basket can do the trick. (Just make sure the meter reader can still read your meter.)
Here are some creative ways people in BC and beyond have safeguarded their analogue meters and their health.
Yes, aggressive installers can cut through many of these barricades if they really want to. But for the most part, barricades such as these have been working in BC (whereas signs alone have often not been enough to keep a smart meter off a house).
To enlarge images and view them one-by-one, click on any image in the selection below and then use the scroll arrows.
- Sign the petition calling for a moratorium on wireless smart meters in BC.
- Pre-register here to support a referendum on smart meters in BC.
- Download signs to post on your front door and beside your meter in BC.
(All photos in this gallery have been supplied by others, except the pink plywood one which is my own barricade.)
Refugium 
Hi Kim, What can I do if a smart meter was placed on my property while I was out of town. Do you know?
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to solve that problem, Onalayah – at least, not without consequences.
The Coalition to Stop Smart Meters and Citizens for Safe Technology Society would like hear from everyone who has had a wireless smart meter installed, and wants it removed – for a list the are keeping for lobbying and possible legal action. To be part of all that, e-mail dsnoble@shaw.ca with a short and simple statement to that effect, and put “REMOVE METER” in the subject line.
But that doesn’t get it off your home. You can buy a safe analog meter for about $50, and then swap the smart meter for a safe meter yourself. Watch the Jerry Day video on that here: http://pigsquash.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/how-to-replace-your-smart-meter-with-a-safe-meter/
But when Deb Stutters did that in Peachland recently, BC Hydro shut off her power! Story here: https://electroplague.com/2013/04/18/bc-hydro-cuts-power-to-smart-meter-refuser/
Still, it is something I would consider doing if I had a smart meter on my home. And if enough people did this… Well what’s BC Hydro going to do? Shut off everyone’s power?