Re ‘Not so Smart Meters’ (SA October 15), Ms G Theil is right to be worried. There is growing opposition to Smart meters. They’re not ‘smart’ nor are they green, and there is no justifiable business scenario for them as they're currently designed to work.

Cases have been cited in America of residents developing typical electro-sensitivity symptoms the minute they were installed, including severe headaches, heart palpitations, brain fog, and aches and pains.

Long term diseases including cancers have been associated with unremitting pulsing microwaves from them. Even if you refuse a smart meter, you can be badly affected by your neighbours’ meters.

So why is the industry intending to fit them into all our homes?

Time-of-use billing and increased profits are one key reason. The case made for subscribers is that they are able to monitor their energy consumption. But studies reveal that consumers don’t reduce their consumption even when they know how much they are using.

Monitoring your home’s electricity can show when each device – shower, cooker, lights or computer – is being used. This means that criminals who hack into these smart devices will know if you are at home or not and even what you are doing.

In the case of smart gas meters, the boiler talks to the thermostat/controller, which talks to the internet modem which, in turn, talks to the central gas meter – no humans.

Ultimately, all this information offers a vast money making opportunity for the utility companies, who can sell this data for marketing purposes.

During extreme weather smart meters are designed to fail when the temperature drops below 10 degrees C. When you need it most it will not be there.

In Australia consumers’ costs went up alarmingly. Eighty per cent of bills went up a whopping 50 per cent on average. This may be the reason that Germany, although technically advanced, has rejected them outright.

Echoing Orwell’s world, telecoms giant Verizon has patented a TV that can ‘observe’ its viewers. Beware once fitted (read the small print!), its nigh on impossible to revert back.

Steve Nibbs Milton Road Swindon