Florez wants ‘smart meter’ installs stopped
BAKERSFIELD
March 8, 2010 12:02am     

•  Accuses PG&E of speeding up installation of controversial meters
•  ‘Disallow further installations until we know these meters work’

Pacific Gas and Electric Company should be stopped from installing any more of its “smart” meters until their accuracy can be determined by an outside expert, says state Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, D-Shafter.

Mr. Florez says he wants answers as to why -- five months after it was promised -- no testing has been completed on the “smart meters” blamed for utility bill spikes in the Central Valley.

He says PG&E recently announced it is speeding up installation of the controversial meters. The California Public Utilities Commission has seemingly “done little to resolve the concerns of the public they represent,” Mr. Florez says.

The CPUC agreed in October that testing of Smart Meters was not only necessary but that the sheer volume of complaints about billing abnormalities constituted an extraordinary circumstance. At the same time, they rejected Mr. Florez’s call for a moratorium on installations pending testing.

“Given the decision of PG&E to speed up installations even as the company drag its feet on hiring someone to conduct accuracy testing, in flagrant disregard for the order of the PUC, I think the PUC owes it to consumers to revisit their earlier decision and disallow further installations until we know these meters work,” says Mr. Florez.

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=14567