[Sustain] PG&E: Hundreds Of Dollars Per Customer To Opt Out Of Smart Meters

[Eric Brooks]

http://www.baycitizen.org/pge/story/pges-plan-smartmeters-opt-out-pay/

Thursday, March 24, 2011


  PG&E's SmartMeter Plan: Opt Out, Pay a Premium

Customers who choose to turn off radio signals could pay as much as $270 
up front plus $14 a month
By: John Upton <http://www.baycitizen.org/profiles/john-upton/>

Pacific Gas and Electric Company plans to charge customers hundreds of 
dollars on top of their regular gas and electricity bills if they choose 
to switch off radio signals emitted by SmartMeters, which are being 
installed in businesses and homes throughout Northern California.

SmartMeters are being installed by PG&E as part of an industry-led 
effort to replace the nation's aging electrical infrastructure with 
digital equipment that can track and manage customers' energy 
consumption. Already, PG&E has replaced 7.7 million analog electricity 
and gas meters with the new devices.

Following years of public outcry about rollout of the meters, which some 
customers say have caused serious illnesses and incorrect energy 
consumption readings, the California Public Utilities Commission earlier 
this month ordered PG&E to allow customers to opt out 
<http://www.baycitizen.org/pge/story/pge-customers-can-now-opt-out/> of 
using the technology.

PG&E submitted a proposal to the CPUC Thursday that, instead of allowing 
customers to continue using analog meters, would see radio signals 
switched off from their SmartMeters. The SmartMeters would continue to 
monitor a customers' energy use, but they would not transmit the results 
to PG&E through radio signals. Instead, a PG&E official would visit the 
customers' home to manually read the meter for billing purposes.

Customers who select the "radio-off" option would pay a $135 up-front 
fee followed by a $20 monthly charge, or a $270 up-front fee followed by 
a $14 monthly charge, PG&E proposed. Low-income customers would pay 20 
percent less.

Instead of the fixed monthly fee, customers could choose to pay a 
monthly rate that varies with the amount of gas and electricity that 
they use. That option could be less expensive for customers who use 
little electricity or gas.**

PG&E justified the seemingly high rates by saying that its anticipated 
costs in deploying the "radio-off" option for an expected 146,000 
opt-out customers would exceed $80 million over two years.

"We wanted to make sure that those who elected that option would bear 
the costs associated with that option, as opposed to the rest of our 
customers," PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said.

The opt-out program costs will include expenses associated with turning 
customers' SmartMeter radios off; switching radios back on if customers 
change their mind or new tenants move into the premises**; modifying 
PG&E's existing SmartMeter-related information technology programs and 
radio networks; and communicating with customers about alternatives to 
the opt-out option, PG&E told the CPUC in the proposal 
<http://bayc.it/dDpY/>.

Consumer advocates, meanwhile, characterized the rates as just another 
cash grab by a malevolent corporate monopoly.

"I'm definitely going to ask for the data to support their forecasts for 
how much it's going to cost to do all this stuff," said Marcel Hawiger, 
energy attorney for The Utility Reform Network, a consumer watchdog.

Hawiger said that PG&E should give its customers the option of reading 
their own meters instead of paying PG&E a monthly fee. Some customers 
with dogs and fences already read their own meters, he said, suggesting 
that program be expanded.

Public hearings will be held in the coming months to discuss the 
proposal, and a CPUC ruling on PG&E's proposed opt-out pricing system is 
expected by mid-September.

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