Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is about to replace all residential gas and electric meters with smart meters, saying the meters manage consumers' energy usage better, and in time, save money.
Some customers are questioning whether the new technology would be bad for your health.
Smart meters basically reads itself then sends the energy usage reading wirelessly to BGE. The utility company has touted the benefits to customers, eventually saving customers money.
"You are going to be able to actually go onto your computer, you are going to be able to see in near real time -- 24 hours, roughly -- your energy usage," BGE spokesman Rob Gould said.
But not everyone is looking forward to smart meter technology, including Junghie Elky, who said she suffers from something called electromaganetic sensitivity, and believes radio frequencies make her sick.
"I'm a little bit nervous about that, a bit worried about the health effects," Elky said. "At my worst, I was so sensitive, I could not touch things with electricity without feeling pain. I couldn't watch TV because the radiation from the screen would make me dizzy."
Elky said she would experience headaches, fatigue and ear aches that forced her to take a leave of absence from work.
Magda Havas, an associate professor of environmental and resource studies at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, has studied electromagnetic sensitivity for decades. She said 3 to 5 percent of the population suffer severe symptoms, and up to a third of the population have mild to moderate symptoms.
"There are so many sources of radiation, so smart meters are just one additional source," Havas said. "We have a lot of it in our home. We live near cell phone antennas and they all emit radio frequency. What seems to happen is once the smart meters go in, people seem to be fine, and then a few of them become quite ill."