Due to the mounting public concern about smart meter generated radio frequency (“RF”) fields, the Vermont Department of Public Service (“VDPS”) commissioned a study aimed at assessing smart meter compliance with regulations established by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”). During November and December 2012, a comprehensive series of measurements was performed to evaluate RF emissions produced by electric smart meters deployed within Vermont. The study examined the strengths of the RF fields emitted by smart meters with attention to both the instantaneous peak values of field power density and average values. The work also included measurements of the duration of the brief emissions and the number of emissions that could be observed to occur over sampling intervals so the amount of time that the meters actually transmit could be determined. Here are a few of the findings:
- Exposure, in terms of instantaneous peak, as well as time-averaged RF fields, caused by deployed smart meters in Vermont is small in comparison to that related to many other sources of RF fields in the environment. For instance, local values of long term, time-averaged RF fields (as a fraction of the MPE) from FM radio broadcasting can, in some areas as found in this study, be as much as 10 to hundreds of times greater than those values found immediately near smart meters. The common use of normal appliances within a home or office, such as microwave ovens and wireless routers, can lead to RF fields that are comparable to or substantially greater than those produced by smart meters. This applies to the use of mobile phones as well; both mobile phones and smart meters operate with roughly the same transmitter peak powers. In this context, however, mobile phones are normally held against the head during use while smart meters are not.
- Using the highest indicated results from the measurements performed in this study, potential exposure of individuals to the RF fields associated with the currently deployed smart meters in the GMP and BED service territories is small when compared to the limits set by the FCC. It is concluded that any potential exposure to the investigated smart meters will comply with the FCC exposure rules by a wide margin.