Smart Meters

Concerns have been raised about the safety of smart meters, mainly because they give off the same kinds of radiofrequency (RF) waves as cell phones and Wi-Fi devices.

Get up-to-date information on possible cancer risks from exposure to smart meters.

What are smart meters?

Smart meters are devices used by utility companies to remotely measure how much electricity, natural gas, water, and other utilities you use.

In the past, utility meters were read in person. Today, many utility suppliers use smart meters to automatically gather this information. Smart meters are widely used across the United States and other parts of the world.

How do smart meters work?

Smart meters record the amount of the product (electricity, water, etc.) consumed over time. They differ from traditional utility meters in that they are electronic and can talk to a central computer system.

Smart meters talk to their central systems using RF transmissions, based on a cell phone, pager, satellite, radio, power line (PLC), Wi-Fi or Internet (TCP/IP) communication method.

Are people exposed to RF from smart meters?

Smart meters are typically installed outside the home, either as part of existing meters or in place of them. How much RF energy a person is exposed to depends on how far they are from the smart meter antenna and how the smart meter sends its signal.

The frequency and power of RF waves given off by a smart meter are similar to the waves given off by a typical cell phone, cordless phone, or residential Wi-Fi router. Smart meters typically send and receive short messages about 1% of the time.

Because smart meter antennas are usually located outside the home, people are much farther away from the source of RF waves compared to some other possible sources of exposure to RF radiation, such as cell phones and Wi-Fi routers.

In addition, walls between the person and the smart meter’s antenna further reduce the amount of RF energy exposure. This means the amount of RF radiation that someone would be exposed to from a smart meter is probably much lower than the amount they would be exposed to from other sources.

Can smart meters cause cancer?

Smart meters give off radiofrequency (RF) radiation. This is low-energy radiation that cannot damage DNA directly (unlike UV radiation, x-rays and gamma rays). RF radiation has just enough energy to move atoms in a molecule around or cause them to vibrate, which can lead to heat.

Organizations around the world have studied whether RF radiation can cause cancer. For example:

• The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed the scientific evidence and concluded there is not enough evidence to support that RF radiation causes cancer.
• RF radiation is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” This is based on the finding of a possible link in at least one study between cell phone use and a specific type of brain tumor.  

It would be nearly impossible to conduct a study to prove or disprove a link between smart meters and cancer because people have so many sources of exposure to RF and the level of exposure from this source is so small. Because the amount of RF radiation you could be exposed to from a smart meter is much less than what you could be exposed to from a cell phone, it is very unlikely that living in a house with a smart meter increases cancer risk.

See Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation and Cellular Phones for more information about the possible link between RF radiation and cancer risk.

Could smart meters cause health problems in cancer survivors?

While RF exposure might not cause cancer directly, concern has been voiced that cells in the body that have been damaged by exposure to some other substance might somehow be more likely to become cancerous when exposed to RF waves.

In theory, this might be a concern for people who are or have been treated for cancer with ionizing radiation and/or medicines that might cause cancer themselves.

Animal studies have not shown evidence of this, and this effect has not been studied in people.

How can I reduce my exposure to RF radiation from smart meters?

There might not be much you can do to lower your exposure to RF radiation from smart meters. In some places where smart meters are being installed, people have the choice to opt in or opt out of having them, but this isn’t an option everywhere.

It may be possible to lower your exposure from cell phones and other sources of RF radiation. To learn more, see Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation and Cellular Phones.

Because the low levels of energy from RF radiation have not been clearly shown to cause problems even at close range, it isn’t clear that lowering exposure to RF radiation has health benefits.