Enmax Smart Meters

rticle Updated: August 24, 2021.

Summary of Enmax Smart Meter

Model: Honeywell Rex Line of Meters

Transmitter Frequency: 902.4 MHz – 927.6 MHz  | Bandwidth 371.61 KHz (Source Industry Canada)

Transmitter Power: 850 mW

RF Exposure Pulsed Transmission @ 1 m in front of meter:  5600 – 7100 uW/m2

Measured Frequency of transmissions: Every 5 min 20 secs.

Pulsed Radio Frequency Radiation Signals Per Day: 675 pulses per day.

We started seeing Enmax smart meters as early as March 2019 but we suspect they have been around a lot longer than that.

What is a smart meter?

It is an electronic device that records and reports power consumption back to the electricity supplier. What’s unique about a smart meter is it allows two-way communication between the meter and supplier such that:

• energy usage can be collected frequently or almost in real time with out sending an actual person to read your meter.
• meters may be capable performing a remote disconnect of service
• power outages and power quality monitoring

The two-way communication is usually performed through wireless technology but can also be performed using fixed wires such as power line carrier (PLC) communications,

How do you tell if you have an Enmax smart meter on your home?

If you have a Honeywell Bidirectional electric utility meter with the wording “contains IC 4557A-REXUNAZ” you have a smart meter installed on your home. Most homes in Calgary have electric utility meters such as the old-school analog meters with the spinning dials or simple digital Focus meters which do not emit RF pulses.

Enmax Smart Meter Exposure Measurements

Smart meters are just programmable electronic devices and just because there is a radio frequency (RF)  transmitter installed does not mean that it is enabled. To better understand the exposure from the meter we logged the RF transmission from the a Enmax Honeywell REX meter and found:

•  RF Pulses approximately every 5 min 20 secs
• Each RF pulse power density: 5600 – 7100 uW/m2 at a distance of 1 m in front of the meters.

To confirm that RF pulses were coming from the RF meter itself and not from elsewhere we covered the smart meter with Swiss Shield Natural fabric which blocks 99.99+% of RF pulses. When the meter was covered with the shielding fabric the signals RF pulses were not detectable and with the shielding fabric removed, the pulses returned. Click the image below for logged data.

RF Measurements were taken with the following EMF Equipment:

Enmax Smart Meter Radio Frequency Measurements

Do Smart Meters Pose A Health Risk?

The RF exposures measurements from the Enmax/Honeywell Smart Meter are in line with smart meters emissions from California and BC. The pulsed signals are in most cases, much more biologically active than non-pulsed signals. There are 13 peer-review and published studies in Dr. Martin Pall’s paper (Jump to P.14 to see the studies) documenting these negative health effects from pulsed radiation. Although industry often states boldly that there are no known health risks to humans through RF emissions it simply is not true. There have been numerous accounts of people becoming ill after the installation of a smart meter. 

Enmax Tells Me Their Honeywell Smart Meter only transmits 1.5 seconds every 4 hours. Are they lying?

No, not really but it is very carefully selected words. If we break down the 1.5 seconds it equals over 110 very short pulsed radio frequency signals every 4 hours.  How is that possible? Each pulsed signal transmits every 5 min 20 sec but each pulse is a fraction of a second. If you add up all those 110 (approx) pulses that occur every 4 hours that equals 1.5 seconds. To be clear, Enmax is NOT saying their smart meter transmits once every 4 hours for 1.5 seconds but rather the smart meter transmits over 110 pulsed signals every 4 hours and if you added up all 110+ pulses it would equal 1.5 seconds.