133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
12 September 2025
Spencer Jones
By email:  [FYI request #31856 email]
Ref:
H2025070888
Tēnā koe Spencer
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of
Health – Manatū Hauora (the Ministry) on 2 August 2025 for information regarding smart meter
health risk assessments, advice, and complaints. You requested:
1. All internal briefing papers, memoranda, or advice provided to Ministers or executives
between 2010–2025 referring to health risk assessments for smart meter
electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure, especially non‑thermal chronic exposure
concerns.
The advice provided to the Minister of Health is publicly available in reports from 2015, 2018
and 2022, as such section 18(d) of the Act applies to this part of your request. Please refer to
the following links:
• https://www.health.govt.nz/publications/interagency-committee-on-the-health-effects-of-
non-ionising-fields-report-to-ministers-2015
• https://www.health.govt.nz/publications/interagency-committee-on-the-health-effects-of-
non-ionising-fields-report-to-ministers-2018
• https://www.health.govt.nz/publications/interagency-committee-on-the-health-effects-of-
non-ionising-fields-report-to-ministers-2022
2. Any public‑health complaint logs or correspondence received by MoH relating to
individual cases of illness or symptoms allegedly linked to smart meter installations—
specifying whether information is held in an incident tracking system.
The Ministry does not hold any “public health complaint logs or correspondence relating to
individual cases of illness or symptoms allegedly linked to smart meter installations” and does
not maintain a dedicated incident tracking system for smart meter complaints. Therefore, this

part of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act as the information requested is
not held by the Ministry and there are no grounds for believing it is held by another agency
subject to the Act.

3.  Copies of any commissioned or circulated biomedical or epidemiological reviews or
assessments regarding non‑thermal EMF effects from smart meters, including
submissions by or referencing New Zealand researchers or international sources such
as Don Maisch or ARPANSA.

Abstracts relating to smart meters that have been presented at meetings of the Interagency
Committee on the Health Effects of Non-ionising Fields are attached as documents 1-3 itemised
in Appendix 1 of this letter and copies of the excerpts are enclosed.

4. Any recommendations or policy notes proposing adoption, review or deviation from
exposure limits in NZS 2772.1:1999, ARPANSA, or ICNIRP guidelines.

The Ministry does not hold any “recommendations or policy notes proposing adoption, review or
deviation from exposure limits in NZS 2772.1:1999, ARPANSA, or ICNIRP guidelines”.
Therefore, this part of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act as the information
requested is not held by the Ministry and there are no grounds for believing it is held by another
agency subject to the Act. If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, please feel
free to contact the OIA Services Team on: [email address].

Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.

Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at: www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-official-
information-act-requests.

Nāku noa, nā

Corina Grey
Director of Public Health
Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui

Page 2 of 3

Appendix 1: List of documents for release

#
Date
Document details
Decision on release
1
February 2011
EFHRAN - D3 - Report on the
Some information released
analysis of risks associated to  under section 16(1)(e) of the
exposure to EMF: in vitro and  Act by giving an excerpt or
in vivo (animals) studies
summary of the contents

2
September 2012
Final report of the interphone
Some information released
project
under section 16(1)(e) of the
Act by giving an excerpt or
summary of the contents
3
February 2014
Radiofrequency fields and health  Some information released
under section 16(1)(e) of the
Act by giving an excerpt or
summary of the contents

Page 3 of 3

Document 1
Interagency review papers – Feb 2011
Reviews/Reports
EFHRAN - D3 - Report on the analysis of risks associated to exposure to EMF:
in vitro and in vivo (animals) studies
(Efhran is a project funded by the European Commission with specific objective to establish a
network for performing health risk assessment of electromagnetic fields exposure.)  1982
ACT
Health impacts of radiofrequency from Smart Meters
California Council on Science and technology
Key findings:
1. Wireless smart meters, when installed and properly maintained, result in much smaller levels
of radio frequency (RF) exposure than many existing common household electronic devices,
particularly cell phones and microwave ovens.
INFORMATION
2. The current FCC standard provides an adequate factor of safety against known thermally
induced health impacts of existing common household electronic devices and smart meters.
3. To date, scientific studies have not identified or confirmed negative health effects from
OFFICIAL
potential non-thermal impacts of RF emissions such as those produced by existing common
household electronic devices and smart meters.
THE
4. Not enough is currently known about potential non‐thermal impacts of radio frequency
emissions to identify or recommend additional standards for such impacts.
An Investigation of Radiofreque
UNDER  ncy Fields Associated with the Itron Smart Meter
EPRI
Results
The smart meters studied in this report are currently being deployed by two electric utilities in
California. The meter
RELEASED s are part of wireless mesh networks consisting of approximately 500 to
750 “end point meters”; for each of these networks, one meter is configured as a collector point
referred to as a “cell relay” by Itron. The cell relay collects data from the various end point
meters and conveys these data onto the cellular wireless wide area network (WWAN) for
communication back to the electric utility company’s data management system. Mesh network
communication among the many meters is provided by a 900 MHz band transceiver RF LAN
(local area network). A HAN feature is supported by a 2.4 GHz transceiver.

Document 1
Data collection was carried out in a laboratory setting and at residences and in neighborhoods
in southern California and Colville, Washington, supplemented with theoretical modeling
studies. The results indicate that RF fields from the investigated smart meters are well below
the maximum permitted exposure (MPE) established by the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) for the general public. For instance, at one foot, the time-averaged RF field
from an end point meter would be expected to not exceed 0.8% of the MPE) established by the
(FCC). For the cell relay, the RF field would not exceed 0.2% of the MPE. Even at very close
distances, such as one foot directly in front of the meter, with an unrealistic assumption that
the transmitters operate at 100% duty cycle, the resulting exposure is less than the FCC MPE.
When viewed in the context of a more typical, realistic exposure distance of 10 feet, the RF
fields are much smaller, about 0.008% for the end point meter and about 0.002% of MPE for
the cell relay. For occupants of a home equipped with a Smart Meter, interior RF fields would
be expected to be at least ten times less intense simply due to the directional properties of th
1982e
meter. When the attenuation afforded by a stucco home’s construction is included, a realistic
value of the interior RF field would be about 0.023% of the MPE for an end point meter and
ACT
about 0.065% for a cell relay. Regardless of duty cycle values for end point and cell relay
meters, typical exposures that result from the operation of smart meters are very low and
comply with scientifically based human exposure limits by a wide margin.
Available from: www.epri.com, search for document ID no. 1021126

INFORMATION
OFFICIAL
THE
UNDER
RELEASED

Document 2
Interagency review papers – Sep 2012
Reviews/Reports
Final report of the interphone project
Organisation
The final report of the Interphone project has been published and is available at
http://interphone.iarc.fr/UICC_Report_Final_03102011.pdf. It does not add any new
data, but summarises the findings which have already been published.
Information sheets
1982
ACT
Health Canada information sheet on Smart Meters
“Survey results have shown that smart meters transmit data in short bursts, and when
not transmitting data, the smart meter does not emit RF energy. Furthermore, indoor
and outdoor survey measurements of RF energy from smart meters during
transmission bursts were found to be far below the human exposure limits specified in
Health Canada's Safety Code 6.
Based on this information, Health Canada has concluded that exposure to
INFORMATION RF energy
from smart meters does not pose a public health risk.”
Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/prod/meters-compteurs-eng.php
OFFICIAL
THE
UNDER
RELEASED

Document 3
Interagency review papers – Feb 2014
Reviews/Reports
Radiofrequency fields and health
(French)  Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety
(ANSES)
Information sheets
COMAR technical information statement –  RF Safety and utility Smart
1982
Meters
ACT
“Smart Meters typically employ low power (~1 W or less) transmitters that
wirelessly send electric energy usage data to the utility  company several times per
day in the form of brief, pulsed emissions in the unlicensed frequency  bands of 902-
928 MHz and 2.4-2.48 GHz or on other nearby frequencies. Most Smart Meters
operate as wireless mesh networks where each Smart Meter can communicate with
other neighboring meters to relay data to a data collection point in the region. This
communication process includes RF emissions from Smart Meters representing
energy usage as well as the relaying of data from other meters and emissions
INFORMATION
associated with maintaining the meter’s hierarchy within the wireless network. As a
consequence, most Smart Meters emit RF pulses throughout the day, more at certain
times and less at others. However, the duty cycle associated with all of these
emissions is very small, typically less than 1%, and most of the time far less than 1%,
meaning that most Smart Meters actually transmit RF fields for only a few minutes
per day at most. The low peak power of Smart Me
OFFICIAL ters and the very low duty cycles
lead to the fact that accessible RF fields near Smart Meters are far below both U.S.
and international RF safety limits whether judged on the basis of instantaneous peak
THE
power densities or time-averaged exposures. This conclusion holds for Smart Meters
alone or installed in large banks of meters.”
Available at:
UNDER
http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/embs/comar/COMAR%20Smart%20Meter%20TIS%20(9-25-
2013).pdf
ARPANSA Fact Sheet 16 – Smart Meters
“Smart meters measure electricity usage and communicate this information back to
the supplier using s
RELEASED  hort bursts of radio waves or low level radiofrequency (RF)
electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The scientific evidence does not support that the
low level RF EMR emitted from smart meters causes any health effects”
Available at:
www.arpansa.gov.au/RadiationProtection/Factsheets/is_smartmeters.cfm
1

Document Outline

H2025070888 documents for release.pdf