She has become dependent on friends and neighbors to get clean clothes, a hot meal and a clean home. Life is turned upside down, but Johanne refuses to give up.
STAVANGER (Nettavisen Økonomi 🙂 Her apartment is generally furnished. A bookshelf filled to the brim with literature and a switched off television frame the living room. A devoted dog jumps from the owner’s lap to the couch, down on the floor and up again.
But the fridge is empty and dark. The floor in the bathroom is cold. There are several candles on the living room table and kitchen table. In a cooler bag on the kitchen counter are six small and large thermos bottles.
– I worry from morning to night, says the homeowner.
She tastes the word “worry”, which feels like an overly easy word to use for the situation she is in. Not having electricity in the house is a concern that weighs many tons on her shoulders, it feels like.
The nurse has been partially and completely out of working life since a collision in April last year, and goes on work clearance money. The online newspaper has chosen to partially anonymize her for the sake of her daughter. Johanne is her real name.
Large parts of the day are spent thinking about logistics: How do we get boiled water? Do we get cleaned at home? If we exercise or go for a walk, will the clothes get so sweaty that they have to be washed? What kind of food should we eat that does not need heat treatment?
– One day a week I drive somewhere to boil water. I swim twice a week as training and treatment after the accident, and get a shower through the facilities at the swimming facility, Johanne says and continues:
– It’s an eternal rush. Today I wear clean clothes because I get you to visit. But often I think about how many days I can wear socks and t-shirts before they have to be washed, says Johanne.
Shut down the power after repeated warnings
This is how the situation has been at Johanne and her daughter’s home since 10 June this year. It is almost four months since Lyse turned off the electricity in the apartment they live in.
As part of a modernization of the power grid, around 2.5 million electricity meters in houses and holiday homes have been replaced with new AMS meters over the past ten years.
By 1 January 2019, all Norwegian households should have had these smart electricity meters installed, which continuously measure and report your electricity consumption every hour. But there are still a few households that have not had a new meter installed.
Johanne says that her body reacts to sound, light and impressions. The head may ache and the body may swell and become tense. The skin can become completely red, says Johanne.
High sensitivity is more a personality trait than a diagnosis, it is said. Johanne has long tried to suppress this part of herself, but the car accident in April 2020 made the pain worse – and she is in pain around the clock.
Johanne fears that the new meter will send out impulses and vibrations to which she will react. Therefore, she paid an extra fee from 2019 to January this year to avoid having an AMS meter installed. As of 2021, this extra cost is NOK 1,850 a year.
But the pressure from Lyse became ever greater, says Johanne. She ignored letters and emails from the company, but picked up the phone when the company called. Johanne refers to Lyse’s inquiries as «threats» and «harassment».
– Threats and harassment are strong words. What do you put in it?
– To issue an ultimatum to turn off the power is a threat. Taking the lifeblood, the power at home, is a threat. Hygiene, diet and cleanliness are at stake. It is a comprehensive operation, says Johanne.
Lyse writes in an e-mail to Nettavisen that they want to avoid such cases for the longest time. Shutting down a customer’s power supply is always the last resort, writes communications manager Ingvild Ween.
– Not having electricity gives many disadvantages, and we have strict routines for how we handle this type of case in Lyse Elnett. Unfortunately, we do not always succeed in our dialogue with customers, writes Ween.
She emphasizes that customers receive letters and brochures about installing a new electricity meter. If customers do not respond, Lyse sends several reminders via letter and telephone.
Believes Johanne has broken the contract
All grid companies in Norway were required to install new electricity meters in all homes by 1 January 2021. According to Lyse’s standard terms, it is considered a significant breach of contract from a customer like Johanne when she does not contribute to Lyse being able to install a new meter.
The conditions are present for Lyse to be able to cut the power, the company itself believes.
However, communications manager Ween writes that Johanne can get a new electricity meter without an active communication part. She can have it installed if she presents a confirmation from a doctor or psychologist that she has expressed concern about the electricity meter with communication.
– Customers with an exemption get a new electricity meter without communication, and then still have to read the electricity manually as they have done with the old meter, Ween writes.
Johanne says that she has obtained such documentation as Lyse wants, but that she will not give it away until Lyse gives her the power back. Lyse has a monopoly on online services in Sør-Rogaland, and has 150,000 customers in the online area. Such a player has a great responsibility for the customers and weak groups in society, Johanne believes.
– It may well be that they are right that I have broken my contract with them. But then they have to apply for a dispensation from the Energy Regulatory Authority (RME) or take me to court. They have a delivery obligation to paying customers like me, and with that comes a great responsibility in a skewed customer relationship, she says.
Johanne demands a written confirmation from Lyse that there are no impulses, sounds or vibrations in the new meter, which can be installed right next to her bedroom. She wants a guarantee that she can turn it off if she gets sick or that there are other measures that make her feel safe.
– I try to be open to suggestions for other solutions and to dialogue, but experience that Lyse is not the same, says Johanne.
Lighting and communications manager Ingvild Ween answers that a possible solution is an agreed meter change at the customer where the fitter can see documentation on site, grant an exemption, change the electricity meter and turn on the customer’s electricity.
– We hope for the longest time that the solution that has been outlined is possible so that the customer gets the power back on quickly, Ween writes in an e-mail.
Johanne has complained to the Elklagenemnda, where the case is still being processed. The tribunal handles complaints about grid companies and power suppliers from consumers – and their statements are advisory to the parties.
Not afraid of radiation
– But it appears quite simple: You can present a doctor’s statement that radiation from this meter worries you, and then you get an exemption from Lyse. Why do not you do that?
– It’s not that simple. I have no electricity and just want peace. I’m not negative to radiation. As a nurse, I have seen radiation with X-rays and ultrasound. My grandfather was an electrical engineer, and I have all my life been positive about radiation and electronics in various forms. But I say no thanks to meters that damage my body and my health, at the same time as I am open to suggestions and other solutions, says Johanne.
– But do you know that this new meter will harm your health?
– No, I do not know. And I’m open to finding out. But the appearance of Lyse, who has not been characterized by dialogue, makes me terrified.
Lars Klæboe, senior adviser in the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Atomic Safety (DSA), says that it is the health service that is responsible for diagnosing individuals and that DSA on a general basis recommends people with health problems to consult the health service.
When asked by Nettavisen about what science says about smart meters, Klæboe answers that the exposure similar to that from smart meters is so weak that it is not likely that it leads to negative health effects.
– Smart meters should store data about your power consumption at least once an hour. However, some meter types send out data many times an hour. Does it have a bearing on the health of consumers?
– The National Communications Authority has carried out measurements on the smart meters used in Norway. The exposure from everyone is per mille of the limit value, regardless of how often they send, Klæboe answers.
At the end of the first quarter of 2021, it was estimated that less than one percent of Norwegian electricity customers had not had AMS installed. These have either refused or been exempted from fitting for health reasons, according to the interest organization Distriktsenergi.
AMS meters provide more efficiency and lower costs
The online newspaper asks the Energy Regulatory Authority (RME) why all electricity customers should now have used AMS meters. Section manager Torfinn Jonassen says that the relatively new meters make registration of electricity consumption and correct billing easier. In addition, it will be easier for consumers to change power supplier.
– More information about what happens in the power grid closest to the customers means that the grid companies can operate the grid more efficiently than today. Lower operating costs will over time lead to the grid rent being lower than it otherwise would have been, says Jonassen.
The section leader says that the current regulations and this regulation states that the network companies have a duty to install AMS in everyone. But, as Lyse points out, there are exceptions:
– It is an exception in cases where the installation is to the significant and documentable disadvantage of the end user. Our assessment is that such a disadvantage is significant and documentable in cases where the customer can refer to a certificate from a doctor or psychologist, says Jonassen.
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