Florez demands answers for PG&E customers
Senator calls on utility CEO to investigate and resolve concerns of townhall attendees

SACRAMENTO -- Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who held a contentious townhall meeting this week in Bakersfield to look into dramatic utility rate spikes for PG&E customers who have had “Smart” Meters installed, today delivered to the utility a list of those who participated,  with a request that he be notified promptly of the assistance they are given.

At Monday night’s hearing, which stretched to nearly midnight due to the number of concerned customers who wished to present public comment, PG&E accepted Florez’s recommendation that the utility investigate and resolve the concerns of each of the attendees.

Today, Florez presented PG&E CEO Peter Darbee with contact information for those participants, asking for written notification of the actions taken to assist each of them, as well as the ultimate resolution reached in each situation.  Florez hopes Darbee will reaffirm the company’s commitment while he is in Bakersfield Thursday.

On Wednesday, Florez personally presented a letter with recommendations based on findings from Monday’s townhall meeting to California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevy.  In his letter, Florez called on the CPUC to place a moratorium on Smart Meter installations or rate increases until an independent technology expert can verify the accuracy of the new meters.

Florez also called for testing and monitoring of a representative sample of meters already installed in Bakersfield and the formation of a Citizen’s Oversight Committee to review PG&E’s response to customer complaints.

Smart Meters are ultimately supposed to give consumers real-time information on their energy usage, so they can make adjustments to save on their bills, but the technology to allow the sort of communication needed to achieve that will not be in place for years.  So far, only the utility itself seems to be saving -- eliminating the labor costs of manually reading older meters -- as many consumers have seen their bills more than double despite having cut back on energy consumption.

Click Here for link to letter from Florez to PG&E.
10-08-09 smart meters pg&e.pdf

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