Fresno hearing raises heat on SmartMeters

Published online on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

More than 100 people packed a hearing at the Hugh M. Burns State Building in downtown Fresno tonight to vent their frustation with PG&E's newest metering technology, which customers say has led to unwarranted spikes in utility bills.

Dozens more stood outside the meeting room. Several people held signs that read, "PG&E are a bunch of theives" and"PUC ripoffs."

"You deserve answers," said Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, who held the hearing amid concerns that the SmartMeter technology — funded largely by consumers — has failed to deliver on promised savings.

SmartMeters are supposed to give consumers real-time information on their energy usage so they can make adjustments to save on their bills. But that technology will not be in place for years, Florez said.

PG&E has blamed the higher utility bills on summer heat and has said that much of the increase has come from rate hikes approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.

At the hearing, PG&E officials, as well as the regulatory body that pushed forward the company’s implementation of SmartMeters, are expected to defend the technology.

Florez said so far only the utility itself seems to be saving money by eliminating the labor costs of manually reading older meters. Meantime, many consumers say their bills have increased dramatically, even if they have cut back on energy consumption.

PG&E has more than 9 million customers from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, spokesman Jeff Smith said. The company started installing the new meters in 2006.

So far, about 1.7 million customers have electric SmartMeters and 2.3 million customers have gas SmartMeters, Smith said. About 78% of the PG&E customers in Fresno County have both gas and electric SmartMeters, Smith said.

Customers with high utility bills can call PG&E to set up a payment plan, Smith said. Customers also can request to have their SmartMeter tested, he said.

At an Oct. 5 hearing in Bakersfield, dozens of residents said they have seen their bills double – even triple, or worse – since the installation of the SmartMeters.

Based on testimony at the Bakersfield hearing, the CPUC has said it will require PG&E to have SmartMeters tested in homes against historical data by an independent technology expert. They stopped short of imposing a moratorium on further installations or rate increases pending such testing.