A handful of Montreal residents met the media on Monday, to complain about Hydro-Quebec cutting their power off, and threatening them, because they won't allow the utility to install the brand-new smart meters to replace their conventional analog ones.
Longtime Plateau resident Denise Babin says, like many Quebecers, she objects to having a smart meter installed in her home for safety, health, and privacy reasons.
The new meters, Babin says, report information about usage directly to Hydro-Quebec — something she isn't entirely comfortable with. She also says she believes the studies which suggest there may be ill effects from the radiation the new meters can emit.
Above all else, Babin says she objects to Hydro-Quebec essentially forcing her to get the new meter, without giving her any kind of reassurance to address her concerns — save for being directed to a Hydro-Quebec web site which supposedly suggested the meters weren't harmful to health.
"I told them, 'I read that, and the information on the web site is not independent,'" she says.
Babin says Hydro reps have been harassing her for months about the meters, and began cutting her power off at random times at the beginning of August — including during the cold spells we've seen in Montreal over the last few weeks.
"Ever since the 9th of August...every time I come home, I don't know if I'll have electricity in my house," she said. "I could have electricity now, I could not have it tomorrow. I don't know."
Babin says all she wants — aside from uninterrupted power, of course — is a proper discussion on the new meters.
"Hydro-Quebec is treating us like criminals and we should have an intelligent debate," she says.