Homeowner warns: Check your meter outside—National Grid installed something new: ‘Opt out’

Utility companies love to roll out new “smart” equipment these days. Unfortunately, these smart technologies are a reliable trigger for online alarm, with concerns ranging from privacy to supposed radiation exposure.

Some of these concerns, while attention-grabbing, aren't fully grounded in science. This appears to be the case with one homeowner's viral warning about his new electric meter.

‘Throw a copper ring around that [expletive]'

A homeowner (@naturalgrease) shared his concerns regarding a newly-installed smart meter. His video has since accumulated more than 160,000 views.

The homeowner began his video by pointing his camera at his National Grid Revelo smart meter.

“Anybody who got this smart reader on their house that National Grid put on there,” he said, panning to his old meter. “Opt out, so you can keep your old [expletive].”

The homeowner then panned back to the new meter. Visibly wearing plastic gloves, he filmed himself placing a hand-wrapped loop of copper wires around the new meter. He framed this as a bit of a “hack” for those who couldn't opt out of the new smart meters.

“Throw a copper ring around that [expletive],” the homeowner said. “So that [expletive] ain't sending radiation off in your house.”

As viewers flooded the homeowner's comment section with suspicion of the state, he told one of his viewers that copper “lowers radiation frequency.” He advised another commenter to go to “Home depot or any hardware store, ask for copper coil or copper wire,” then wrap the wire into a loop.

“Gotta beat the system somehow,” the homeowner told a viewer. “Government [attacks] us in so many ways, its time to fight [back].”

@naturalgrease #electric #radiation #optout #creatorsearchinsights #inspirationalandmotivationalcontent ♬ original sound – ᵀᴴᴱ'ᴼᴿᴵᴳᴵᴻᴬᴸ

Do smart meters emit dangerous radiation?

National Grid confirms customers can opt out of its Revelo smart meters in favor of keeping conventional ones. However, opting out is a bit of a process—it requires paperwork, and doesn't happen for free.

“If you decide you do not want a smart meter installed, you must fill out [a] form to opt-out*,” National Grid writes, noting with an asterisk that only certain residential customers can actually opt out. “Once opted-out of the program, you will have a new, conventional, or non-communicating, meter installed instead. Since this meter will not transmit data to us automatically, your meter will need to continue to be read manually by a utility representative and you will be charged … The opt-out fees are applied to cover that service.”

Additionally, there is no scientific basis for the radiation claim. According to National Grid's own published safety information, a smart meter typically transmits ”for less than 60 seconds and typically less than a total of 15 minutes per day.” It also reports smart phones cause more than 12,667 times the amount of radiofrequency (RF) exposure as smart meters, whose exposure levels sit well below limits set by the Federal Communications Commission.

The California Council on Science and Technology found these FCC exposure standards provide “an adequate factor of safety against known RF induced health impacts of smart meters and other electronic devices in the same range of RF emissions.” The World Health Organization states that there are no established adverse health effects from RF exposure at levels below international guideline limits.

Some advocacy groups and researchers dispute this consensus. They continue to push for stricter RF exposure standards, though their position remains outside the mainstream scientific and regulatory view.

Does copper wire block radiation?

Conductive metals like copper can block radiofrequency signals through the Faraday cage effect. However, unlike the homeowner's loose loops, the effect only works when the metal fully encloses the offending device, with no gaps. There are commercial products built specifically for this purpose, like fully enclosed mesh shields marketed to block smart meter signals.

Shielding also doesn't “lower radiation frequency,” as the homeowner described it. A material either blocks or attenuates—aka weakens—a signal's strength. It doesn't alter the frequency of the radiation itself, which is a fixed property of how the signal was transmitted in the first place.

Crucially, covering or attaching anything to a utility meter may land you in hot legal waters. According to legal resource LegalClarity, “Using a smart meter guard can put you at odds with federal communications law and state tampering statutes.” A person could face resulting fines, misdemeanor charges, or even felony charges depending on the nature of their alterations.

Buzz News has reached out to National Grid via email, as well as the creator via TikTok comment.