{"id":97187,"date":"2026-02-12T05:42:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=97187"},"modified":"2026-02-11T20:44:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:14:59","slug":"fact-check-no-smart-meters-wont-cook-you-with-radiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/fact-check-no-smart-meters-wont-cook-you-with-radiation\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check: No, Smart Meters Won’t Cook You With Radiation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

You can find plenty of claims online that smart meters are a health hazard or part of a sinister government conspiracy. I’ve had a look and found these claims to be false.<\/p>\n

Are Smart Meters Bad For Your Health?<\/h2>\n

Smart meters are not dangerous. I’m not saying they’re safe to swallow, or it wouldn’t hurt if someone tried to use one to “blunt object” you to death in a real-life remake of Murder She Wrote.\u00a0 I’m talking about electromagnetic radiation.\u00a0 The levels they emit are harmless, or at least are of so little consequence that I am completely confident it’s not worth worrying about in a world full of obvious dangers, such as Murder She Wrote’s Jessica Fletcher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But not everyone agrees with me. My plan was to provide links to claims saying I’m wrong, but as I looked them up, I wondered if I should, because many were clearly made by people nuttier than a lumpy chocolate bar.\u00a0 I couldn’t help but feel it could be cruel to publicly point out their claims hold as much water as a dam wall made of fairy floss.\u00a0 On the other hand, one of the people against smart meters is a Queensland Senator, so it is in the public interest to point out he’s wrong.<\/p>\n

The first example is from the appropriately named “conspiracybot”:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

It says smart meters are extremely dangerous and the World Health Organisation has classified them as a possible carcinogen.\u00a0 But you’d think that if they were extremely dangerous, the WHO would get their act together and say, “Hell yeah, smart meters are dangerous!\u00a0 They give you Turbo-granny-cancer!<\/a>”\u00a0 But they don’t actually say smart meters are a possible carcinogen.\u00a0 Instead, what they do say is that Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) are a possible carcinogen<\/a>, which isn’t quite the same thing.\u00a0 Fortunately, there’s no good evidence that EMF exposure from mobile phones is dangerous<\/a>, and smart meters expose you to far less.\u00a0 This is because you don’t walk around with a smart meter pressed against your head.\u00a0 Meanwhile, one thing the WHO says is definitely a carcinogen is alcohol<\/a>, and we still have plenty of that in Australia.<\/p>\n

The link also says in all-caps, “THE WEAPON IS THE SMART METER”, which I don’t think is correct, unless you’re getting Murder She Wroted with one.<\/p>\n

The video is of Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts.\u00a0 In it, he doesn’t say smart meters are dangerous, but he does claim that in regional Queensland, “…households are put on economy tariffs and can only use power for about 8 hours a day.”\u00a0 This statement is so nutty there’s no chocolate bar in the entire world lumpy enough to contain it.\u00a0 My parents have one of these economy tariffs and they have more than 8 hours of grid electricity per day.\u00a0 It’s for their hot water system.\u00a0 These tariffs were first introduced in Brisbane in 1953, two years before Senator Malcolm Roberts was born.\u00a0 In all that time, they have never caused a home to only be supplied with power for about 8 hours a day.\u00a0 I realise he didn’t emigrate here until 1964, but I still think he’s had enough time to pick up how Queensland economy tariffs work.<\/p>\n

The Stop Smart Meters Australia page:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This is your one-stop shop for everything anti-smart meter.\u00a0 If you want to hate on smart meters, I can’t recommend it highly enough.\u00a0 But if you’re into realistic threat assessment, I can’t recommend it lowly enough.<\/p>\n

EMF Protection For Sale:<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, if you do think smart meters are a threat, and want to use an online shop, there are people happy to take your money in return for protective gear, such as a website called Aus Security Products, which avoids claiming that smart meters are dangerous, but goes ahead and says you should consider shielding solutions anyway, which they will sell you.<\/p>\n

\"Picture

This could be yours for just $285 plus $12 shipping!\u00a0 (Note you can get a roll of aluminium foil<\/a> from Woolies for $1.90. Personally, I recommend a biscuit tin — because it comes with biscuits.)<\/p><\/div>\n

With the right shielding, such as a Faraday cage<\/a>, you can block all EMF from a smart meter.\u00a0 But this won’t necessarily be without consequences.\u00a0 It’s a good way to get a technician to check why your smart meter has failed, and they may not be impressed when they find out it’s your fault and not the meter’s.\u00a0 Expect to be hit with a hefty service charge.<\/p>\n

This approach below is a bit more magical:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

It is true that if you hang a copper band with quartz crystals woven into it from your smart meter, the EMF emissions won’t harm you.\u00a0 But it’s also true if you don’t.\u00a0 While the person who made this could honestly believe they are helping people, I’m still shocked by how susceptible people are to superstition in this modern day and age.\u00a0 I’m also shocked by how it looks exactly like the charm my shaman sold me to protect against serial killers…<\/p>\n

\"Jessica

Jessica Fletcher: Either she’s so unlucky she just happened to stumble across 286 murders, or something else was going on…<\/p><\/div>\n

Making Your Smart Meter Dumb Is Expensive<\/h2>\n

If your electricity retailer wants to install a smart meter, or you already have one, you may have the option of having its communication ability deactivated.\u00a0 Because it will no longer use the mobile phone network to send or receive signals, this can reduce your exposure to electromagnetic radiation<\/a>, but you’ll also be hit with potentially hefty manual meter reading fees.<\/p>\n

Because money costs money, my advice is, don’t do it.\u00a0 Unless you sleep inside a switchboard box — which probably isn’t out of the question given the state of Australia’s property market<\/a> — you’ll be exposed to far more electromagnetic radiation from using a smartphone than you’ll ever get from a smart meter.\u00a0 Exposure from typical smartphone use is several hundred to several thousand times greater, so I say it’s not worth worrying about.\u00a0 But if you’ve already limited your electromagnetic wave exposure by binning your mobile phone, then I salute your consistency.\u00a0 And be sure to tell whoever printed this out for you that you appreciate their efforts.<\/p>\n

While people have genuine concerns about EMF, I’m being genuine when I say there’s no good evidence<\/a> that emission levels allowed in Australia are harmful, and the amount we receive from smart meters is trivial compared to mobile phones and other devices.\u00a0\u00a0Unless you’re willing to cut electricity out of your life, there’s no real point in not having a smart meter.\u00a0 And if you do ditch electricity, you won’t need one anyway.<\/p>\n

Smart Meters & Dumb Decisions<\/h2>\n

A more reasonable concern behind anti-smart meter campaigns is the fear that electricity retailers or grid operators will use them to screw people over.<\/p>\n

Depending on location, in the past, getting a smart meter could cause you to be kicked off your flat tariff and forced onto a time-of-use or demand tariff, regardless of whether or not you wanted one.\u00a0 This sometimes resulted in old grannies being dumped onto demand tariffs and being hit with hefty demand charges without understanding why.<\/p>\n

Because this rotten behaviour pissed people off and caused them to hate smart meters, the AEMC worked to change the rules so households can remain on a flat tariff after having a smart meter installed.\u00a0 In practice, you can use a flat tariff with a smart meter provided electricity retailers offer them, and at this time, they appear available throughout Australia.\u00a0 This is likely to continue because electricity retailers don’t really care what tariff you’re on as long as they’re making money.<\/p>\n

Universal smart meter coverage is coming, although not everyone will be happy about it.\u00a0 But most of the smart meter hatred out there is not due to the meters themselves, which are pretty harmless, but is instead the result of dumb decisions made about them.\u00a0 These include:<\/p>\n