No Relief Yet for PG&E Customers Who Claim Smart Meters are Causing Rate Hikes
Oct 22, 2009

Hearings held earlier this month with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), California state regulators and customers screaming mad about increases in their electric bills apparently have failed to resolve the issue.

The hearings were set up by State Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who said in late September that his office had been flooded with calls from angry customers in PG&E's Bakersfield service area complaining about skyrocketing electric rates and their new smart meters—which they blame for the rate hikes.

Florez, the Senate majority leader, has since called for PG&E to stop the deployment. "People think these meters are fraud meters. They're getting no benefit from these things," Florez said.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) agreed to address the issue last week, but would not order PG&E to suspend its large-scale deployment of new smart meters.

In some instances, customers claimed that their rates have increased by 100% or more, and they're afraid the smart meters PG&E installed as part of a massive, long-term rollout might be wildly inaccurate.

PG&E executives have responded that there is nothing wrong with the meters and instead say that if anything is to blame it is extremely hot summer weather and recent increases in the cost of electricity. One executive said the utility has found no malfunctioning meters.

The first rate increase occurred in October 2008, and the CPUC authorized another increase in March 2009. PG&E switched to a newer model meter earlier in the year, so some of the Bakersfield customers had older meters that were later replaced with the new model. Vendors for the project are GE, Landis+Gyr and Silver Spring Networks. 

So far, PG&E has deployed about 3.7 million meters. By the end of the deployment in 2012, 10 million meters will have been installed. PG&E has not asked for Recovery Act stimulus funds for the project, but has asked for a $42.5 million stimulus grant to deploy installers and controllers for roughly 75,000 commercial and industrial customers.

http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/News_News/No-Relief-Yet-for-PG-E-Customers-Who-Think-Smart-Meters-are-Causing-Rate-Hikes-1309.html