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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">To emphasize the </font>point
on why PG&E's 'smart' meters are actually bad for rolling out
clean energy see this comment from a customer with solar panels who
recently had direct experience with the meters.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sfbg.com/2011/03/22/smart-meters-stupid-company#comment-28941">http://www.sfbg.com/2011/03/22/smart-meters-stupid-company#comment-28941</a><br>
<br>
<div class="meta"> <strong><a
href="http://www.sfbg.com/2011/03/22/smart-meters-stupid-company#comment-28941"
class="active">Another problem is no support for solar systems</a></strong>
</div>
<p> So I refused a Smartmeter for my place in Oakland, but not for
EMF reasons. Smartmeters cannot run “backwards”, which means if
you have solar you can’t sell back power to PGE. I was told I
would have to pay them $500 to get bi-directional meter. I talked
to a staff person at the PGE solar program and she was very upset
at the Smartmeters, saying "they are anything but smart". Note the
old meter works just fine for solar. It is really hard to find a
digital meter that doesn’t work bi-directionally anywhere else in
the Country, which means at worst PGE is purposely making it as
difficult as possible to sell back power, and at best they are
incompetent as they also promote solar.</p>
<p>Their opt-out plan only covers EMF complaints. I still can't use
solar with their crippled Smartmeter. </p>
<br>
<br>
On 3/25/2011 11:30 AM, Eric Brooks wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4D8CDF34.50701@aim.com" type="cite">
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">To put it bluntly
Martin, you apparently know nothing about PG&E or its
history with these 'smart' meters (which have been causing huge
rate spikes for some of the customers that have them installed.
Frankly you don't know what you are talking about.<br>
<br>
PG&E is using its 'smart' meters to raise rates both to
individual customers, and by using them as an excuse for a
general rate increase to cover the costs of the meters (even
though they are going to save PG&E money).<br>
<br>
And the way that PG&E is rolling out these meters is causing
them to exceed federal limits for radiation exposure to
customers. So the radiation concern is real and based on current
science and standards.<br>
<br>
Eric B<br>
</font><br>
On 3/25/2011 10:45 AM, Martin Zehr wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BAY147-w598C3A43D82BAF8A08D265F8B90@phx.gbl"
type="cite">
<style><!--
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--></style> This is simply fear mongering. At a time when San Francisco
Greens should be demanding monitoring of radiation from japan
they are working to undermine valid science and technology that
would empower efforts at conservation of electricity. You follow
the ignorant instead of leading the aware.<br>
<br>
<div> </div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:03:44 -0700<br>
From: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:brookse32@aim.com">brookse32@aim.com</a><br>
CC: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:sustainability@sfgreens.org">sustainability@sfgreens.org</a>;
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:active@sfgreens.org">active@sfgreens.org</a><br>
Subject: Re: [Sustain] [SFGP-A] PG&E: Hundreds Of Dollars
Per Customer To Opt Out Of Smart Meters<br>
<br>
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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Not if it gives people
higher cancer risk and raises their bills because PG&E as
a private corporation is gaming the meters to jack up rates.
PG&E has no intention whatsoever of using these meters to
lower electricity use; and it will do everything in its power
to obfuscate their use for that purpose (making them bad for
conservation goals).<br>
<br>
If the meters were hooked into a more environmentally and
health safe fiber optic system and run by the city instead of
the corporation, -then- smart meters would be good and
effective. Until we get PG&E out of the picture, its smart
meters will be a bad thing.<br>
<br>
And the best way to reduce electricity use,<br>
<br>
is to use less electricity...<br>
</font><br>
On 3/25/2011 8:17 AM, Martin Zehr wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:BAY147-w613A0B3AEE16ECCF6519A5F8B90@phx.gbl"> This
is such nonsense. We need to support measures for accurate and
timely monitoring and measurement if we really want to reduce
electricity use. <br>
<br>
<div> </div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:18:29 -0700<br>
From: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="ecxmoz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:brookse32@aim.com">brookse32@aim.com</a><br>
To: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="ecxmoz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:active@sfgreens.org">active@sfgreens.org</a>; <a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="ecxmoz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:sustainability@sfgreens.org">sustainability@sfgreens.org</a><br>
Subject: [SFGP-A] PG&E: Hundreds Of Dollars Per Customer
To Opt Out Of Smart Meters<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.baycitizen.org/pge/story/pges-plan-smartmeters-opt-out-pay/"
target="_blank">http://www.baycitizen.org/pge/story/pges-plan-smartmeters-opt-out-pay/</a><br>
Thursday, March 24, 2011<br>
<h1>PG&E's SmartMeter Plan: Opt Out, Pay a Premium</h1>
Customers who choose to turn off radio signals could pay as
much as $270 up front plus $14 a month<br>
By: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.baycitizen.org/profiles/john-upton/"
target="_blank">John Upton</a><br>
<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.baycitizen.org/pge/story/pge-customers-can-now-opt-out/"
target="_blank">ordered PG&E to allow customers to opt
out</a> of using the technology. <br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
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.<strong></strong><br>
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.<br>
"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.<br>
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<strong></strong>; 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
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://bayc.it/dDpY/"
target="_blank">the proposal</a>.<br>
Consumer advocates, meanwhile, characterized the rates as just
another cash grab by a malevolent corporate monopoly.<br>
“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.<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<br>
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