Our commune has “refused” Linkys but that seems to be totally toothless as nearly everyone now has one! The EDF man who came to install our linky told us that they wouldn’t embark on a big fight if you refused a linky. But should there be any problems with your meter in the future and you need a new one, you would have to pay.
As it happened he was unable to install the Linky so we never asked further. And are still waiting for the new appointment to have a second go. But what he took out of the box to install seemed identical to what we already have as our old meter blew up a while back and EDF put in a new one (only a year after the previous one caught fire…).
Hi Jane - I guess one would have to check with the commune “Sillans la Cascade” & ask the Marie if they have allowed or refused the automatic installation of the Linky unit - will endeavour to do that and see what the answer is - thanks for the heads-up - cheers
peter from downunder
That”s what I was told by EDF man…whether refusing means that you have breached the detailed terms and conditions of your contract with EDF I have no idea since I’ve never read them
Thanks for your reply. Noted, and will pass on your idea about aluminium foil.
The houses in our commune have super-thick walls too. Thus an outdoor meter would not give any worries. However, the existing meters are all indoors, generally in the kitchen or living room… which does give folk pause for thought. Only new-builds, on the outskirts, have outdoor meters.
An extra “problem” on our house is that the power line arrives a roof top and then drops to the current meter. This is at first floor level, so to get to an external Linky we’d need a ladder, or they can re-route the cable somewhere and then run a cable back up to the main distribution bank of fuses (not anymore fuses, but we are old fashioned enough to call it a fusebox - LOL). Could take more that the 30 minutes allowed.
I noticed last week that we have a linky thingy, but still got the existing meter too. You may well ask why didn’t I notice it before…but it is about 1km from our house, up the hill on a pole just before the cable disappears into the forest. Maybe to get a signal. Had no notification and our electricity wasn’t disrupted.
Similarly, a friend of mine who bought a Moulin for renovation upstream has had one fitted too, he has a temporary power supply and meter still connected with the new one sitting underneath the existing (on a pole outside), but they have must some sort of aerial on top of the pole - no mobile signal there either
You can’t have two official meters. ENEDIS have been fitting local transmitting devices which, as far as I can glean, send the mains born Linky info from all the meters on one transformer via an RF link. This is why small boxes have been appearing on poles all over the place.
P.S. As Linkys use CPL (i.e. signaling via main cabling) you gain nothing by shielding or moving your meter as that signalling will appear on all circuits in your house. The level of this is insignificant compared to running many household devices. More info is in this leaflet.
Linky meters produce far less radiation than microwaves, mobile phones, wifi routers, unshielded ethernet cables etc. and only do so for a few seconds between midnight and 06:00 each night.
All these items have to conform to EU standards on emmisions.
Doing a quick Google search for “Linky radiation” will provide numerous references. I have found many that refer to scientific data saying that they aren’t dangerous to health. On the other hand I have not found anybody providing scientific data to say they are, only assertions and rumours.
BTW, they don’t use wif to send data back they transmit the data over the power lines using CPL technologie.
I have just seen this topic come up on the SFN summary notification email so bear with me if what I am going to say has been covered. ALL E.M. radiation is unwelcome but of course at low frequency and power our bodies are able to tolerate it better. As we go to higher frequencies (and that demands higher power levels too in order for the waves to travel as far) there a greater health effects on our bodies - especially for children. There are many on this forum who completely dimiss this but you should do your own research and always ask the question ‘who benefits’ when you are unsure who to believe.
I recieved an email last week from Enerdis who said that they are going to send me a letter to inform me when they will install the Lnky box at my house so I have been doing my homework.
As I understand it, in france the law says that if the meter is on your property you can refuse it.
As mine is on my property but outside the house, I have locked the enclosure in which it sits and so if I am not present when they arrive, they will be comitting an offence by breaking into it.
So, why am I refusing it; well the question really has two levels - one the safety to the home owner and the other - much more sinister.
From a safety point of view, there have been many fires caused by so called smart meters so they are potentially dangerous in that respect. Secondly they are frequently pulsing signals into the property and sending information back to ‘base’. This pulsing of signals is harmful to our bodies (although in france the sending of the data to base is presently done by modulating it over the power lines, not by using the wifi).
Ask youreself - why are they forcing this out there ? who benefits.
On to my second part, the sinister bit. This Smart meter is only a small part of a so called Smart agenda which is dependent on 5G for its total coverage. This is why 5G is being rolled out at breakneck speed even though nobody is asking for it. 5G is the backbone along which all the smart agenda relies and your linky box is one small piece of this jigsaw - it is the piece which allows you to be watched at home (by knowing what appliances you are using, and when) by knowing whether you are at home or not and how much power you are using. When you go to bed and when you wake up. It can then decide to change your behavior by reducing or switching off your power.
To most of you this sounds crazy but again ask youreself why?
The rollout of 5G and smart meters is costing billion and billions and when have you seen people out on the streets demanding these things. Never. So for whose benefit is it?
The smart agenda is taking us down an incredible slope and there is much information out there for those who choose to investigate it.
Meantime for more information on the fight against smart meters check out : http://refus.linky.gazpar.free.fr/
I asked at our Mairie and was told that if I refuse the Linky I will have to pay a fee to have the meter read manually… and should I need the meter replaced in the future… only Linky would be available and I would have to pay for all costs involved in the replacement.
From recent newbies in the commune… the cost of having a meter installed ranges from 1500 - 3000 euro so it does give one pause for thought.
I’m interested in finding out more about the filters …which are being fitted to those Linky meters where the Proprietor is known to have medical problems…
Hi Stella, firstly I have never heard of such filters and frankly don’t think they exist - but if you find out that they do, please let me know.
Secondly, the threats put out by Enerdis (like the ones you have mentioned, plus threatning phone calls and the threats of judicial action in you barricade your meter, and cutting off your electricity) are truly aweful and have no basis in law - and like I said earlier, we have to ask ourselves why they are resorting to such measures to implement a device we have all aparently been demanding!!
Please have a look at all the recources on the refus linky site I mentioned. You will see that the ‘animator’ of the site (Stephan L’Homme) is in fact a municipal councillor for his commune - which is among some 800 communes in france who have come out and refused the installation of Linky in their communes. Your Mairie is simply trotting out the mantra given to them by enerdis.
thank you Stella, very kind of you to share this. I had a quick look but although I have a technical background and my French is quite good, it will take me a little while to really understand this filter and how it works
I will probably come back to you when I have had time to digest it.
It does beg the question however - why the need for the addition of this filter if Linky is so safe?
Basically they are saying it is for people hypersensitive to these waves. The real fact is that we all suffer from EM waves - at one end of the spectrum by using mobile phones and at the other by being subjected to 5G, where we see trees being felled in places like Sheffield & Gateshead because the 5G runs at such high frequencies that the signal is attenuated very quickly.
We are all on a spectrum and yes I do believe that some people are more sensitive than others; I suggest that this is why we have seen clusters of cancers around places where phone masts are located, but of course not everyone gets cancer. Different sensitivities leading to different outcomes.
There are alternatives to Linky and similar systems.
Disconnect from the grid, rely on wind and solar to generate electricity and wood fire for heat and cooking.
Then you can engrave your motto over the door:
Stop the World - I want to get off.
Otherwise, simply heed the Harvard advice.
Written 5m away from my Linky, which - like all the others in our apartment building – is in the rising main cupboard on the landing. Along with the gas meter, two fibre optic distributors and of course the fire main. I suppose if I lived in there the main risk would be cramp! But at least I might not be exposed to all the fake news and pseudo science which deluges the internet.
I’ve had a linky for 5 or 6 months now…I didn’t want it and had I been in uk I would have known how to refuse…
I did actively look at how to go about refusing a smart meter in France but wasn’t able to get myself up to speed before there was a chap turned up in my hamlet…he was here about half an hour and my smart meter is now in exactly the same place as my previous meter…
It’s in my kitchen behind my kitchen door and is close enough that I can see it flashing ominously when I’m boiling the kettle or got the vacuum cleaner going…
The first thing I noticed was that having never had a fuse blow I’ve had two blow since the linky was installed…
The first time a fuse blew I asked my neighbour at the top of my cul de sac and he replaced the fuse and showed me what to do…I now have a stock of fuses should it happen again…
I’m on 6Kva and have no intention of upgrading to anything more…
I do think there are people who are sensitive to these frequencies…since it’s been installed the “ringing in my ears/above my ears that I’ve had for years has intensified…(my dreams are really disturbed now…I receive text messages in my sleep that wake me up and there is no text on my phone…sometimes I google the “message” and end up researching stuff that I’d never even thought about…lol…)
