Stray Voltage, Causes, Solutions, and Health Effects

“Stray voltage” is a term used to describe the electrical voltages which are over and above ideal levels for a properly-functioning electrical pathway. (That is my own generalized definition.) It can also be called “stray current”, “tingle voltage”, “tickle voltage”, “neutral-to-earth voltage”, or “animal contact voltage” (e.g. in cases of cattle or swine).

Notes for clarification so that you can understand this blog post:

1. “Fields” and “Voltage” – This “extra” voltage CAN be a cause higher electromagnetic (emf) fields but it is not the same as emf fields. Voltage has a different meaning than the word fields even though there can be a relationship between these two words; electrical voltage produces electrical fields.
2. To the general public (e.g. my general audience), “stray voltage” is often a term used to include both the situations of “stray voltage” and of “contact voltage”. In other words, we usually mean it to be simply any electrical voltage that is straying away from where should go, taking a different path than what it should. What those travelling electrons should be doing is to do purposeful work electrically (e.g. energize a lightbulb or appliance for your use) and then to travel back to the utility station, completing a full circuit. But when some electricity escapes from the pathway it’s supposed to take, it can use the earth (dirt, ground, water) as a conductor, go down wires it shouldn’t back up into, or essentially aim for anything (or anyone) conductive close enough to it, in order to try to return back to the station.
   • It’s true that engineers might tell you that technically, stray voltage is different than contact voltage in what causes each to occur (although they can both occur in the same situation). If you want a technical but fairly readable short summary of the difference between these terms, here is a link to an engineer’s ppt presentation to explain it briefly. (Link to “IEEE Standard 1695 An Introduction for the Technical Professional” workshop slides from February 2025; it mentions the 2024 version of IEEE.)
     • A further note re: the IEEE is that it does not contain all the knowledge that exists for how electricity affects humans! There are a number of other significant scientific studies mentioned elsewhere plus individual cases which provide a better understanding of the “health” side of this topic.
   • For this blog post, I will be using the general public understanding of “stray voltage”. This is because my readers can be people with a non-science background who are dealing with human health concerns relating to annoying effects of electricity which is escaping or straying into their environment, increasing the emf fields – electrons going where they shouldn’t be going at the levels that they are. My readers are trying to understand some basic electricity and get ideas for what could be causing these higher levels and what might be a solution for electrical measurements in their living and/or working spaces.

Note: For this post, there are NO affiliate links. For ease of learning, I included the source information reference links alongside the points or the quotations, instead of listing them with footnotes. All quotations remain the property of the various authors and/or publishers, of course.

Safety First

First, if you are right now dealing with a level of electricity in your environment which is causing you (or your electrical fixtures, appliances, or wired electronics) “symptoms”, here are a few things you already should be doing:

• personally getting away from what is causing symptoms (for example, go safely outside away from electricity, at least as much as reasonably possible)
• notifying your electrician to check your electrical service and if you think the cause is pointing to a grid/utility issue, notify your utility for help too.
• notifying medical care people who at least can document some of your situation and general health.

And if this is a water-related safety issue (e.g. swimming), educate yourself about the risks to electric shock drowning (ESD) due to stray voltages. ESD involves “typically low level AC current through the body with sufficient force to cause skeletal muscular paralysis” (source link) So that is why I mention it on my post about “low-level” stray voltage. An example of a 3-minute video for safety tips around water is at this link.

My post is generally about the stray voltage situations on land, for example, in buildings such as a house.

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In time, if your property (e.g. building) is determined to have a grid/utility reason for the “stray voltage” and they fail to remedy those levels, you may also need to contact a lawyer for legal advice and/or your municipal leader. The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) could also be contacted (if your property is in Ontario). Also, you could contact your local consulting (electrical) engineering business for advice. So keep at least some records or reports on what is going on.

• There is a likelihood that places in the same neighbourhood also have the same issue, even if the residents are not experiencing symptoms. (Not everyone is as electro-sensitive as another person.) So ask around. Are there others with similar measurements or busy replacing appliances sooner than expected? If yes, then this might be a good indication you should bring your concerns to your municipal leader who is supposed to support public safety.
• Try to keep the issue related to standards of electrical service, not personal health damage. Your goal should be to get the electrical problem(s) fixed (and then the health issues should hopefully improve from that).
  • Refrain from greed or rude anger. Speak sensibly, get to know basic science for how things work, and be gracious to people involved.
  • Don’t expect everyone to understand the health-related matters if you’re experiencing these.
  • Honestly show your appreciation when people, including professionals, are trying to be understanding or helpful in these situations. The matters can be quite complex to figure out the finer details.
• Keep in mind that legal battles relating to “stray voltage” are extremely costly and tiring. There are also clauses in policies which give utilities some protection from responsibilities you might think they should be responsible for.
• Recognize that in the end, you might not succeed in getting the electrical issue improved enough or even at all. Sadly, some people must choose between living in a building that negatively impacts their health or move away, leaving that place for other people who’d feel OK in it yet. Try not to be emotionally-attached to a property or neighbourhood – you might need to relocate; moving can sometimes be the better solution for you and your family.

“Standards”

Various Tests

There are different points where electricians or lines crew or engineers can measure to see if the expected voltage is rather high in comparison to what it should be. They might measure the electrical potential at the transformer on the pole (a “NEV” meaning “neutral-to-ground voltage”). A farm safety team might set up a bunch of equipment to record electrical activity for a couple of days. An engineer might do a Megger Test or similar. Someone might use an old AM radio to hear the amount of static sounds near various electrical sources (e.g. plug receptacles, neighbourhood transformers), which can show a general amount of ‘extra’ electricity including EMI (“dirty electricity”). (For the basic AM radio test, it is tuned to a frequency where no stations are broadcasting such on the higher end (e.g. 1440, 1600) or some say the lower end. Thus, there are various tests which can be done to figure out what is going on.

What’s “Normal”?

The wires on the main electrical panel (sometimes called the MEP or “mains”) in a house can be measured by an electrician when the panel is “off” or “on”. For a typical residential service,

• The hot wire should measure around 120V if “on”. (When the MEP breaker is all “off”, the hot wire portion is “off”.)
• The ground and neutral wires should be 0 (zero) volts (perhaps 0.1 or 0.3 volts but it should be quite close to being around zero) when the MEP is “off”.
  • If there is a voltage on the neutral/ground from the power utility, that stray voltage will only disappear if there is a power outage – meaning that the power is “off” on the grid or when the problem(s) is fixed. Otherwise, even if the MEP breaker is all “off”, the voltage on the neutral will remain.
  • In basic understanding of electrical systems for buildings, if you turn the main breaker “off” in a normal system, you’re only cutting off the voltage of the hot wire to travel further.

So if the neutral/ground wiring is NOT around (0) zero, something is straying somewhere and the investigation to find out the cause (and then solution) gets started.

How much can the neutral/ground voltage be before it really should be fixed (mitigated)?

There are a variety of standards for what is a “level of concern”.

Anything higher than very close to 0 V

If we talked with building biologists or other similar “emf experts”, they would be very concerned id it’s higher than zero or close to it, especially for EMF-sensitive individuals or families.

2-3 Volts or higher

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that levels higher than 2-4 V at the service entrance should be fixed. (Source link)
• The International Association of Engineers indicates that levels of more than 0.5-3V should be mitigated. “The acceptable neutral to ground voltage is less than 0.5-3 V….High neutral voltage can cause system lockups, communication errors and operational problems.” (from one paragraph on the first page of that article). (Source link)

Not until over 10 V

We have heard from utilities that they really don’t get concerned unless the voltage is over 10 V.

However, they might do further investigation. And if there are some caring people, they might try to help reduce the problem voltage – there ARE ways that they can do that!! But sometimes they might just hide behind something they interpret in codes to mean that under 10 V on a neutral is acceptable (when it should be zero or close to it). And sometimes, they might be more concerned for the life of appliances under such service.

The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) has proposed an amendment to a standard. The proposal number is 2024-OA-013 and it sounds like a good one. Here’s a quote from it (emphasis mine):

“…Since the beginning of the Ontario Regulation 22/04, the Electrical Safety Authority
(ESA) has issued over 60 utility public safety concerns informing the Distributor that
members of the public are receiving electric shocks from stray voltages on the
consumer’s premises. A licensed electrical contractor (LEC) performed testing on the
consumer’s electrical equipment and installation and determined that the source is
external from the Distributor’s distribution system.

Distributors have mitigated contributions from their system by repairing deteriorated
neutral connections and installation of additional grounding electrodes to their system.
Neither distributor standards nor industry standards contain any acceptable thresholds
for maximum allowed neutral voltage. Since the scope of Section 75 applies to
consumer-owned powerlines, Distributors have misapplied Rule 75-814 3) which will
allow up to 10 V to ground. Once a Distributor mitigates the voltage below the 10 V
threshold, the Distributor would typically cease to reduce the voltage and to determine
the source, even though the consumer could still receive electric shocks.

Rationale:
This amendment removes the 10 V threshold for maximum permissible neutral voltage
to ground, but still requires further investigation and solutions to reduce the voltage and
current to a level where a person will not feel a sensation of shock….” (Source link)

If that proposal goes through, that is a move in the right direction!

Building Biology Standards or Similar

EMF Education and EMF – RF Exposure Guidelines is a page on the website of Safe Living Technologies which combines the main Building Biology guidelines. These include more than just “electricity” and when reading the 2015 guideline for example, remember that they are referring to electrical fields and magnetic fields (not stray voltage measurements on a wire).

The Building Biology Institute provides more detailed explanations such as in a pdf entitled “Healthy Home Standards for Conventional Construction” (2023 version) linked here at their website.

Essentially, if the electrical or magnetic field measurements (e.g. measured using a gaussmeter or body voltage meter, multimeter) show levels at which the building biology standards would consider a concern (especially a severe concern), there will be a cause for that, somewhere in the electrical system. It could be due to a wiring error(s) within the building or it could be from the utility/grid side of the system or it could be a combination of those causes. Building biology measurements can be a good start to recognize IF there is a problem with the electricity in a home or workplace.

But more investigation and testing by an electrician, and maybe even an engineer(s), is needed to determine why and how to improve the issue(s).

An electrical problem doesn’t go away on its own or if you just de-stress or learn healthy routines or decorate with fresh houseplants or swallow a supplement. Electrical problems need help from qualified professionals in that field of work!

Causes

Common causes of “stray voltage” from within the consumer’s side of the electrical system –

• Wiring problems from inside the building (e.g. house) – Here is a link to a video from the Building Biology Institute with Oram Miller showing some examples: “Common Wiring Errors That Imperil Health In Homes”
• Another place to find information is within Michael Neuert’s course (non-affiliate link). The course has videos showing various errors and how to fix those, explaining those issues very well. (You can read his course outline on that link.)

A couple of other websites list the reasons below (so I combined the info). (source link 1) (source link 2)

• Faulting electrical equipment (e.g. ground faults or shorts)
• Loose connections
• Improperly wired sub-panels
• Undersized wiring *
• Unbalanced loads.*
• Heating element in a water heater shorting to the tank.
• Improper grounding of electrical boxes and equipment; dirty or damaged electrical boxes or devices, especially in damp conditions (e.g. moisture, corrosion).
• wiring damaged by animals (wild or tame) or accidents

And Fluke Corporation adds another “common cause”:

• unused cables or extra wires put through a conduit for future use but unconnected because they’re not needed yet [or anymore]. These unconnected wires/cables can pick up some electrons (i.e. “capacitive coupling” from the electricity in the powered wires). (end of quote) (Source link)

A qualified electrician is necessary to determine if the cause of stray voltage is within the consumer’s side of the system or if the problem is instead, on the utility side of the electrical service.

* These points would likely refer to the traditional under-sizing and load issues. But also I will add a bit about the more recent possibility of “harmonics” – an “electrical wavelength distortion that is produced from computers, televisions, stereos, fax machines, fluorescent lights and other devices that convert AC current to low-voltage DC to save money. According to Power Quality Assurance, an electrical industry publication, the power conversion causes harmonics, a form of electrical pollution. The distorted voltage can cause overheating or equipment malfunction. One result of harmonics is an increased load on the neutral line, the wire that is supposed to carry electricity back to the substation. Harmonic currents and voltages also act as multiples of the fundamental power frequency. [e.g. 60Hz, 120 Hz, 180 Hz]… [Some] say the neutral lines are undersized and cannot handle peak loads or spikes caused by harmonics. They say the harmonic waves travel down ground wires and then flow through the earth. [Others disagree and say that] existing utility lines should be large enough to handle harmonic loads.” (Source link of an archived page)

Common causes of “stray voltage” from the utility company’s side of the electrical system –

• Faulty electrical equipment and/or frayed wires
  • maybe a transformer that was manufactured or installed with errors
  • maybe wiring that has been damaged by animals or by weather or by simply being older
• More places built along the service line since it was installed – more buildings getting electricity than was originally designed for when the utility initially installed that line.
  • This becomes an issue for the capacity of the neutral wire – was it sized correctly for the number of buildings now along that road which have electricity? If there have been a number of “new-builds”, this can impact the issue of voltage on the neutral because now MORE houses are “asking” the neutral to carry back the electrons to the power station and the neutral, if not sized sufficiently, can “dump off” its extra voltage along that way, into various household grounding systems.
• Accidents such as trees falling on wires or a vehicle hitting a pole and damaging the wires.
• Copper wire theft.

You can see a simple diagram on this page explaining loss of neutral on wiring from the grid to the panel as an example: Loss of Neutral: Understanding Its Impact on Electrical Systems

In our opinion, it is a very important situation to fix any loss of proper functioning of a neutral or ground wire!

If it’s a grid-source problem, does the power company need to fix the issue?

We have resided in at least two places with stray voltage issues. (Additionally, I have lived in more places that had known electrical problems and I believe that my over-exposures to higher levels of electricity over the years have been part of the reason I am electrosensitive today. See my post “How Come?” to read more about that.)

With one of the houses that had stray voltage, I decided to ask a researcher, who studied the impacts of EMFs on the environment including human health, for advice.

This is a quote from a couple of her notes back to me (emphasis mine):

“Joy, You do not have to have shocks in order for [the power company] to fix the problem. If you turned off the electricity to your home and are getting 2-3 Volts in the ground then they need to do something about it! This is a ruling from the Ontario Energy Board. They do not have a choice in the matter. That is my understanding.

The OEB guidelines have changed from 10V to 1 Volt…

Yes, a [neutral isolation device/stray voltage isolator used for some farms] should help reduce the voltage even further if installed properly…

My advice to you is to get [the power company] to fix the problem as they are the ones responsible for it. You can have them install a [neutral isolation device] but that is going to make it worse for your neighbours. The problem is just shunted down the line. Similarly if your neighbours get a [neutral isolation device], it is going to make things worse for you or the next wire that attaches the neutral wire to ground.

The utility is using the ground to correct a problem they have with insufficient capacity on their neutral wire. They are converting the ground to a wire that takes the unbalanced electricity back to source. They need to increase capacity on their neutral wire. This is easy to do.

I would expect that many people near you are experiencing the same problem.” [the problem of stray voltage, even if not experiencing symptoms personally] – M.

Solutions

Insufficient Grounding Issue

Now, it IS true that if you have insufficient grounding as part of the overall electrical problems, you need to get that fixed to provide proper grounding.

The Building Code apparently states that the service ground to a house must be <25 ohms.

Somehow the household grounding of a newer house we lived in became inadequate. For when it was measured with a Megger Test, we had 816 ohms on that household ground! Living in that house meant that we were like human ground rods! (An engineering team fixed that part of the situation successfully.)

Just Add More Grounding?

One “solution” used for stray voltage sometimes is to provide more grounding. One engineer has told us more than once that adding more grounding is not necessarily going to solve the stray voltage problem.

Here is a quote from one of his notes back to us (emphasis mine), after we had fixed the household ground by adding a better ground for that, but the stray voltage from the grid was still not remedied. We had wondered if fixing our household ground would resolve the grid’s stray voltage issue at our place too. (He was correct in his guess.)

“I hope better grounding does help your situation. My guess is that it will not. In my experience, when there is a high level [2V+] stray voltage like you have, and it is caused by the utility, it is hard for your own ground rods to compete with the strong/robust stray voltage problem from the utility. This is true even if you have several good ground rods, with good conductivity to the earth.

What I have found that happens in many cases, is that your stray voltage on your grounding stays similar and is not reduced very much at all, but now you have and attract more stray current coming in from the utility and travelling through your ground rods into the earth. In some cases this can make the magnetic fields worse…” – M

When he explained it to me on the phone, he mentioned it being like “little David and big Goliath” – in other words, stray voltage from utility is so huge, it will naturally win.

(Of course, we know that ‘little David’ won the victory in the real Bible story but that was because God supernaturally provided that victory. But M.’s point was about what tends to happen in our natural world according to scientific principles and for that, typically ‘Goliaths’ retain the stronger influence on a situation.)

Another electrical website is in agreement and states: “Good grounds can improve stray voltage but also can make it worse. Also, better grounding to resolve stray voltage issues may not be an effective solution.” (Source link)

What Can Be More Helpful…

A Ronk Blocker is a neutral isolator product which is used for some dairy barns. The RonkBlocker website also explains that adding more grounds isn’t the right solution although it is frequently attempted by utilities for a solution – at this link. Note: I have no personal experience with this device so I cannot say if it works well. However, I did ask some questions to the salesperson about it. I found out that they have two devices and the 11V is the one they suggest for levels of stray voltage less than 10V. They do make these for residences, not just animal housing. Each device is for an individual property, not a neighbourhood. At the time of writing this, their device has all hard-wire connections and no electronics (no “RF” wireless components).

This is a short video about stray voltage (of around 1.6V on the neutral) on an Ontario farm which was mitigated by using a Ronk Blocker. There is also a couple of comments below that video which are interesting and relate to an under-sized neutral on the utility side and a problem when there are too many grounds:

“Is the real cause of this problem the lack of a neutral capable of carrying 225% on industrial power lines?” “Yes…the neutral is not capable of carrying the load and there are [too] many ground rods that make it easier to flow to ground.” (public comments on this same video)

• The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) has a pdf with photos of some causes and solutions, intended for farmers, at this link.

• The “IEEE 1695 Guide to Understanding, Diagnosing, and Mitigating Stray and Contact Voltage” can be helpful to engineers (or if you care to read it) for how to figure out the cause and how to fix it (for example, section 6 called “Stray Voltage”). You might be able to find a current or older version of this online in a pdf or in a public library to look at if you’re interested.

The Wisconsin Public Service (source link here for the below information) includes these ideas:

• Proper wiring and grounding
• Correctly size electric service wires for load and distance.
• Replace problem motors and controllers.
• Convert to a four-wire system throughout the farm. (Note: From my understanding, a four-wire system is common in USA.)

A Summary of Mitigation Options

A Presentation for Troubleshooting Stray Voltage Scenarios –

I found a very good article on an agriculture website. Their article is based on a presentation at the Ontario Uncontrolled Electricity Working Group (UEWG), March 2019, Toronto, by Muayad Tarabain, team engineer on Hydro One’s farm rapid response team alongside ___  Meadows. 

Here is the source link of AgProud’s article (written by Karen Lee, published in January 17, 2020 and read online in August 2025). I summarized part of that article (the part that gives what to look for and how it can be fixed) into a list format and sometimes quoted it below.

1. Check: Is “any insulation burning out on the neutral wire or any defective wire connections?”
2. Check: Is there a “lack of proper grounding”?
3. Check: Is the “insulation peeling off phase wires”?
4. Check: Is there “an imbalance of 120-volt loads, equipment problems or any other poor or faulty wiring”? (Poor wiring of electric fences or trainers can also create a problem similar to stray voltage.)

If that is all OK and there is still a stray voltage issue, then improvements to the electrical system might be needed.

1. “Switching to a three-phase service” can be effective (if it’s a possibility and the farm already has a large demand for electricity).
2. “Another effective option is to upgrade the neutral wire size.“
3. “The new electrical code requires new buildings to have a four-wire system with separate neutral and ground wires. Making this change to an existing building can be effective in reducing stray voltage.”
4. Equipotential bonding might be a good idea, especially for a new building (e.g. barn).
5. “The mitigation techniques are similar on the utility side of the system. Technicians will investigate defects on the neutral wire and connections, look for poor grounding and any system imbalances. They can also consider improvements like three-phase expansion and upgrading the neutral size.“
6. “As a last resort, he said the utility can isolate the two systems so the farm equipment will no longer be directly connected to the utility system.” But that comes with significant risk.

Another article on the same agriculture website mentions these solution options:

• “simple isolation from the primary neutral as allowed by NESC 97 D2, moving the source transformer or isolation transformers.
• The problem can also be solved by transformation from the multi-grounded wye primary to different types of utility distributions that do not create stray/voltage by design. Following are examples of the transformations that are available- a multi-grounded wye to:
  • – an unigrounded wye, an ungrounded wye, a delta distribution, resonantly grounded, resistively grounded, [or] a 5-wire distribution.” (Source link: Lessons learned in stray voltage – | Ag Proud)

This link here goes to a summary pdf for a further explanation to farmers about this last point. (One of the authors is the same.)

Health of Dairy Cows

Stray voltage on dairy farms is a short video showing this concern.

Professor Magda Havas (Trent University) has a very good article along with this video to watch “dancing cows” who are suffering from exposures to stray voltages.

Here is the link to her article: Ground Current Pollution – Ontario Government Unwilling to Fix Problem! – Dr. Magda Havas, PhD.

She has another page on her website where she compiles links and descriptions for the teaching videos she has done (quite visual and understandable for the general public). That page is: Ground Current Videos – Dr. Magda Havas, PhD.

Here is a short video example: GC Video 3 Earth Table 60 Hz

Human Health

Can humans conduct electricity through their bodies?

Yes! The human body has lots of water content in it and water is conductive. It also has a fair amount of salt and salt is conductive when it’s dissolved in water.

I remember going to a science fair with our kids and making a low-power lightbulb light up when we all held hands and were connected to a battery power source (as well as the lightbulb).

You can see a short and simple video here as well, demonstrating this physics/science principle using sound from a power source, human hands, and even water.

Are humans effected by lower-than-shock-levels of electricity?

Yes!

Too much electrical exposures (for example, stray voltage-related ones) can affect human health. This is an established fact for humans. (It is not some sort of conspiracy theory. And it isn’t just a dairy cow issue.)

An Interesting Quote:

“One of the most challenging aspects of dealing with stray voltage is recognizing the symptoms. Victims of stray voltage may not immediately realize that the source of their discomfort or injury is electrical. 

Stray voltage can have subtle effects that accumulate over time, making it difficult to pinpoint until more significant damage occurs. For animals, the signs are often more apparent. Livestock might exhibit erratic behavior, such as shaking, acting unusually skittish, or showing signs of burns or sores on their bodies. 

If an animal seems to be avoiding certain areas or equipment, it may be because they’re experiencing electrical shocks. In some cases, the effects on animals can lead to severe health problems, including death, if the exposure continues.

For humans, the symptoms can be more difficult to detect but still cause significant discomfort. Individuals exposed to stray voltage might experience tingling sensations, muscle spasms, or a persistent sense of fatigue. Over time, these symptoms can worsen and lead to more severe health problems like burns, nerve damage, or even cardiac arrest in extreme cases.” (Source link – from a USA law firm website; emphasis mine.)

Other Posts

Before I continue, there are a few other posts I’ve written or are in the process of writing which you might be interested in. I don’t like to repeat a lot between posts and these other ones have information relating to human health affected by manmade electricity.

• Sleep Quality, Fatigue, and Electromagnetic Sensitivities – sleep tips including parts of our story and electric fields, and other sleep science points. (linked here hopefully when it gets posted)
• Practical Tips for Living in the Community – shielded clothing is conductive. Wearing it near high voltage can result in muscle twitches, especially if your “bucket is already quite full”. (linked here hopefully when it gets posted)
• What are EMFs? – See especially the Electrical Fields section of that page for the brain wave diagram and explanation of 50-60 Hz electricity having potential impact for sleep cycles if levels are high/strong enough. (linked here when it gets posted hopefully soon)
• Measuring Tools and Building Biology – How to measure electrical fields and magnetic fields from electricity, objectively. These aren’t just known through “feelings”. It is real science.

Example A: Muscle-Related

This link goes to a 13-minute video showing some muscle changes for an electrosensitive person under stray voltage influences: An Example of Impacts of Stray Voltage in Human Residences.

Example B: Two News Stories (Apartment, Farm)

There are two links which go to short news reports about high magnetic fields as a result of electrical problems in an Oshawa, Ontario apartment. The man had pre-existing arthritis before living there (i.e. do not think that emfs caused all of his distortions). He believed that emfs accelerated his health problems and began health issues for his wife. They could not resolve the issue themselves; it was something beyond any attempts to control. Note that the letter shown at the end claims that there can be no human health problems that result from electricity. It is in error but it shows the current view of companies.

• Is his apartment making Oshawa man sick? (a newspaper article about it)
• EMF Ground current and stray voltage in apartment buildings (a CTV news report found on Magda Havas’ page about it)

The next link goes to another sad story of a family who suffered electrical injuries affecting fatigue and muscles on a dairy farm, alongside their cattle. Again, it shows that people can be affected, not just animals. Stray Voltage: The shocking truth

Example C: Sleep Quality

My husband visited a young fellow who was so tired, he had to quit university studies and return home under the care of his parents. Friends of ours had told them about my emf sensitivities and he asked us if we could bring our body voltage meter over to his home to test a few things. (I wanted to go too but I was dealing with too many overexposures to emf those days to do that trip so I just talked with him on the phone.)

This former student told us he had been so tired but in time, he had decided to do a backwoods-style camping trip with friends of his. Surprising to him, he slept the BEST he had in a long time – which got him thinking.

He took some time investigating some possible ideas and with those, he decided to ground his metal bed frame with a wire, out his bedroom window, down to a metal rod he stuck into the lawn (ground). Sleep on that bed was significantly improved!

Now he was seeing what could be measured and perhaps done to make life better for him and his parents. My husband had a good visit with them.

Example D: Sleep and Overall EMF Tolerance

CBC Radio reported a story about a professor who found that even the electricity in his house added enough to his “bucket” (my term) so that it made it harder for him to tolerate wireless signals. Here is that link to this older story that my Dad sent me from January 14, 2018: Canadians claiming to have ‘electromagnetic hypersensitivity’ feel forced to escape modern life | CBC Radio

(This is an example of a story that illustrates the concept of what is known by the researchers at the Environmental Health Clinic at Women’s College Hospital (Toronto, Ontario) as the “total body burden” with emf sensitivities. See my explanation of the “total body burden” using the analogy of a bucket at my post here.)

Some Kinds of Sleep Disorders

From my knowledge from speaking with a sleep disorder specialist (a medical doctor working with a muscle neurologist) years ago and from reading booklets from members of that team, sleep deprivation can be a result of:

• muscle twitches (at rest, when trying to fall asleep or when asleep; it can also include sensations of butterflies or ants crawling making someone have a semi-uncontrollable urge to move, a kind of ‘restlessness’). There can be numerous reasons why the muscles might twitch but the fact that they DO, can cause poorer sleep quality.
• muscle pain and/or muscle tension and/or muscle spasms (preventing falling asleep as quickly or interrupting sleep)
• interruption in the natural brain wave pattern during sleep. An example is an interfering K-alpha wave complex here and there in Stage 4 sleep – a stage of sleep where, if you can get that stage without interruption, you can feel much more refreshed with a higher quality of sleep. But with interruptions in that stage (for whatever reason), it tends to result in fatigue due to the poorer quality. If these interruptions continue chronically, the person can have a “chronic fatigue”. The specialists distinguished this type of “chronic fatigue” though from not being the same as the “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” (CFS) because, one told me, we can tell that the sleep stage brain wave pattern is getting interrupted physiologically from somewhere. At that time, researchers hadn’t yet figured out “from where” for patients with that. Whereas CFS is a chronic fatigue which had “no known [diagnostic] reason” for causing the fatigue of the person. I wonder how many people are told they have CFS when there is actually a reason that can be seen and narrowed down through polysomnograph testing in a sleep lab?

A connection begins to be understood…

Building Biologist Oram Miller gave a seminar in October 8, 2017. Here is a link to the ppt slides from it: Wiring_Lectrure_IBE_2017_Conf_10_30_17_v.4

Here is a very interesting screenshot of one of his slides in that presentation (page 41). The stages of sleep are listed along the left side of the graph with Stage 4 at the bottom. The hours of sleep for a night are listed across the bottom.

Another newer science research article (2025) reports on the significance of the ELFs (extreme-low-frequencies such as electricity) in wireless technologies. It is technical but gives some very interesting connections. (link) I now list it as one of the key articles on my “start here” page too.

What about tingling or ‘shocking’ sensations?

(on contact or just walking through higher electromagnetic fields)

I think most people can understand that an electro-sensitive person could feel tingly or numbness if using something electrical such as stirring at a stove especially with a metal spoon, typing on a wired computer in a house with stray voltage, whipping ingredients with a hand-held machine, or holding a telephone receiver carrying an electrical charge.

If that is happening, it’s definitely indication that something electrically for that place should be resolved!

Michael Neuert spent decades of his career investigating and mitigating emf situations in workplaces and residences. Many of those were clients who were specifically dealing with electrical issues and he has understood these problems quite well, including stray voltage.

He created a course for electricians or anyone who wants to understand the science of emfs including its effects on human health. I can recommend it as the best online course for this topic that I have seen anywhere. It saves time and weeds out stupidity. Here is the (non-affiliate) link to it: EMF solutions for your health Course Information – EMF Center

Within his career, he has seen clients who experienced what he calls “shocking sensations” – that is not exactly the same as the shocks a person might get when touching something and maybe seeing a spark. But rather it is a sensation of painful feeling-like-a-shock which some might term a muscle spasm or similar, when the person isn’t touching something – he or she might simply be walking through an area in their home or standing near a metal radiator (but not necessarily touching it) or past an electrical plug on a kitchen island. When investigated further, there can be a slight increase in magnetic fields in that area (e.g. could be due to wiring issue or the results of putting in a DE (dirty electricity) filter). There can be a higher electrical field going on, caused by something in the electrical system. But an electro-sensitive person can sometimes feel those “shocking sensations” whereas other people who are not as sensitive, will not. It is still real, not imagined.

When the electrical problem(s) causing such a symptom(s) is fixed (e.g. such as proper grounding, removal of DE filter, etc.), or the person goes outside where electricity isn’t, those “shocking sensations” are no longer felt.

In other words, if the environment gets better, the person can too.

Managing Life with Electro-Sensitivities

Some EMF-sensitive people just notice sensitivities to wireless technologies (RF-EMF). But other EMF-sensitive people notice sensitivities to some levels of electricity. For those people, lifestyle adjustments can help quite a bit!

However…

Living 24/7 without any source of electricity would be quite difficult for most people in North America.

• Smoke detectors are supposed to have a source of electricity (not just a battery).
• Off-grid housing typically isn’t housing that people can get a mortgage for. So most families, it wouldn’t be affordable.
• “Joining the Amish or Old Order Mennonites” isn’t an option for most people and some groups of them readily use cell phones (which add another issue for people who are sensitive).
• Some people live in an RV, unplugging it whenever electricity is not needed. But they plug it back in when using it. It would be difficult to be parents raising children in an RV for long-term, especially in some months of the year.
• I’ve read of people building on a summer kitchen, using off-grid appliances for that; but they have to be careful also for propane exposures since many EMF-sensitive people are also chemical-sensitive in some ways.
• I have wondered if anyone has part of their home electrically “de-energized” at the panel. In other words, not just turning off certain breakers but instead disconnecting just some of less-important circuits by a licensed electrician? (I have not read of anyone doing that. But it might cause some unbalancing of loads or other unwanted issues.)
• Replacing Romex wiring with shielded wiring can help to reduce electrical fields. However, in the situation of stray voltage, it might not help much because a higher level of voltage (e.g. on the neutral wire) is still present and coming to the lights and receptacles.

Some practical tips

1. Correct whatever issues might be causing any higher levels of electricity than needed.
2. Lower whatever amounts of using electricity that makes sense for you.
   • Think – What gadgets could I replace with non-electrical varieties that do the same job?
   • Is there anything which can be unplugged when it’s not in use?
   • How could I safely change how I get some things accomplished?
3. Get away from electricity when it is reasonable to do that. For example:
   • Go outside (in other words, “natural grounding”, “natural earthing” or just plain ol’ gettin’ away from them electrical fields). This means being away also from overhead powerlines or other sources of electricity, of course.
   • Turn off breakers as per building biologist recommendations. Sometimes this can lower the overall EMF fields in a room where you spend more time such as the bedrooms. But sometimes it can cause more the electrical fields. For example, if we turn off the whole MEP, the bedrooms but increase instead of decrease; so it wouldn’t be a good idea to do that! And sometimes, if a breaker is turned off for one room, it worsens another room. So “turning off the breakers” needs to be done right to be beneficial. (This “solution” is dependent on things like the layout of wires, things used, etc. and is determined through multi-meter/body voltage meter measurements varying the options at the MEP.)
     • Remember the point that was written under “What’s Normal?” (near the beginning of this post). If you are turning off breakers, you are ONLY turning off the energy of the hot wire. In other words, if you have a stray voltage on the neutral or grounding wiring, that energy does not turn off if you flip a breaker!!
     • Once, I spoke with a concerned customer service rep who had temporarily forgotten. “Ma’am,” he said, “I need to tell you to do something for your own safety! You need to turn off your main breaker! You must keep [that stray voltage] out of your house until the crew comes!” When I reminded him that that strategy doesn’t work because the breakers only turn off the energy from the hot wires, not the neutral (or ground), he sheepishly responded, “Oh, yeah. You’re right. That wouldn’t work.” Turning off breakers only reduces the hot wire voltage portion so if your problem is stray stuff, that stray stuff will still be around there.
   • Be very cautious about plugging yourself into anything like a grounding mat (“artificial grounding”). I heard a mom talk of using these mats for her family to sleep on but the ground electricity for that property wasn’t at good levels and it made them feel more tired as a result.

See this short video of Michael Neuert’s about natural versus artificial grounding.

Some Closing Thoughts

In my own experience and family, and understanding from what we’ve read or heard over these years, ANYONE with sufficient amounts (in levels and/or over time) of exposures to stray voltages, high electrical fields, ungrounded housing, and the like, (especially during sleep where the body repairs more cells and recovers from the day) can be negatively impacted… and become symptomatic or “electro-sensitive”. Fatigue is a main part of many people’s lives – even what many might think is “normal life”. But too much electricity and/or electronics in the bedrooms can be a main factor in causing that fatigue. (Neurodegenerative conditions and cancers also have been associated with manmade electricity. I mention about that on another post to be linked here when it is finished.)

It is even known among electricians whom we’ve personally known that “not all electricians” can tolerate the levels of electricity they’ve been trained to work with!

Stray voltages can affect more people than we might think, but some people don’t demonstrate the severity that I can have. However, I am also not as severe as some other people. (Variability exists – I write more about that elsewhere.) I think the topic of stray voltage is more important than what some people realize.

Being sensitive to electricity AND trying to live in a home that has ‘more-than-enough’ of it, is not easy! It’s the kind of situation which is rather “preventable”. But it’s something which only someone qualified-enough can change for you; it’s not much under the control or choices of the person(s) suffering.

I think that’s what makes it especially challenging, in comparison to living with some of the other types of lifelong health limitations! (Yes, it’s also “easier” than living with some health conditions too – it doesn’t take ‘medicine with side-effects’ to fix it and there can be a quick, natural relief to the symptoms by simply going outside away from it for a bit. But it can feel like one is “stuck” under stuff which isn’t necessary – things that unnaturally impact both work and sleep.)

Resting while waiting for it to be changed – finding satisfying physical rest can be a challenge – even if you can get some rest sitting in a greenhouse or sleep in a cabin with a woodstove (chucking wood in every couple of hours). Most of us still like living mainly in a house for good reasons!

It is difficult to wait for professionals to fix issues. It’s difficult to wait to see IF they will decide to fix it. And disappointing, even life-changing, IF they decide not to. (We had to move from a past house because my health was declining significantly as a direct result of living under both stray voltage issues and the increase of wireless tech in the community, including smart meters. Sometimes family members had to assist me to get outdoors, where my muscles would return to normal within moments of grounding out there, which just means touching a tree, metal post, or real dirt.)

It is difficult too, because it’s an example of life looking unfair. “Why aren’t things installed safer?” “Why can’t we live off-grid with only electrically-powered things “where” we want them?” “Why is it hard to get through customer service to reach a knowledgeable person?” “When there are solutions available that work, why are these delayed or decided against?”

It’s difficult in the practical sense, with more limitations. “Sleeping outdoors generally means relief but how am I supposed to get good sleep in the colder weather and avoid unfixed electricity at the same time?” “How am I to manage kitchen tasks within the ‘work triangle’ space?” “How can my kids and I bake Christmas cookies together?” “How do I recover from a miserable common cold/flu bug or a limb injury [i.e. “get more rest”, “sleep extra”] if I’m inside a house with electricity that causes poor sleep and muscle twitches and tension? (especially since it can be ALSO difficult to get outdoors in icy, windy, damp weather conditions or bug season)” “Filling my ‘bucket’ with too many electrical field exposures can also make the wireless symptoms when I go out in public, more frequently severe and harder to recover from. So what outings will I need to cut back from until the electrical situation is fixed?” “How do I get my housework done?”

Life becomes different in this kind of situation. And life can become more normal again when the electrical levels are more normal again.

The acoustic piano can sit empty more in a ‘stray voltage situation’ – under too much electricity, my fingers aren’t as nimble and can’t do as much of the ‘fancy work’ in that kind of environment. The sewing projects pile up. Bread isn’t homemade as often. To do tougher mental tasks (e.g. addressing lots of envelopes, figuring out complex schedules or forms, sorting paperwork), I “think” clearer outdoors. Some of the boxes of paperwork that I packed when we moved, were brought up and sorted in a tent outdoors to downsize them, instead of the basement.

When the power goes out, hooray! Now I can easily do that type of stuff – indoors instead! If the power goes out towards night, it can be a quick rush to get some good sleep before the crew makes it come back on!

“Mommy, could you braid my hair tonight since [big sister] is at college now? If your fingers don’t work good-enough indoors, you could do it outdoors ’cause they’ll work better there!!” (Of course!)

Much prayer is needed. People and things can fail. But God doesn’t fail us. He is always good.

Ingredients to make a delicious cake includes the bitter baking soda as well as the sweet sugar and the stabilizing, ordinary flour.

Here are a few Bible verses that can help remind us of the “bigger picture” as we go through disappointments.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV

“The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Psalm 9:9-10 ESV

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” 1 Peter 4:19 ESV

“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.” Nahum 1:7 ESV

Music

I like putting a piece or so of uplifting music at the end of some of my posts. I’ve cued up two songs from a concert with Steve Green and Dick Tunney and added the lyrics since one of them is instrumental –

J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” (piano instrumental)

Lyrics: (Source link)

Always (Steve Green) (source link for lyrics)