LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Thursday, two weeks after the California Public Utilities Commission directed Pacific Gas & Electric to submit a plan that would allow customers to opt out of having SmartMeters, the utility presented a proposal which calls for added costs for customers who want to turn off radios within the devices.
CPUC Chairman Michael Peevey asked the company to submit “a proposal or series of proposals that will allow customers with an aversion to wireless devices the option of being metered without the use of wireless technology,” a move he announced at the commission's March 10 meeting.
Peevey also had said the options should come “at a reasonable cost, to be paid by the customers who choose to opt out.”
PG&E's proposal would allow residential customers to have radio devices within the SmartMeters – which emit radio frequencies and transmit energy readings four times a day for a total of 45 seconds – turned off.
The company said that its plan follows the CPUC's direction that there not be increased costs to customers who choose to keep a fully functioning SmartMeter.
The plan also appears to adhere to the company's goal, expressed to Lake County News by spokespeople in previous interviews, of upgrading all analog meters to the newer devices.
Members of the Clearlake City Council, which voted Thursday to impose a moratorium on SmartMeter installations, were critical of the opt-out provisions presented to them by PG&E representatives, questioning the higher costs.
“We believe this proposal addresses concerns some customers have about SmartMeters while still delivering the many benefits of SmartMeter technology to the majority of customers,” said Greg Kiraly, PG&E vice president, SmartMeter Operations.
Kiraly maintained, “The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence assures us that the low-level radio frequency signals from our SmartMeters are safe – in fact, even safer than many household products, including cell phones and microwave ovens. But we know some customers nevertheless have concerns about the meters and we take those concerns seriously.”
PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said the utility would offer customers who chose to have the radios turned off different options to pay for the opt-out provision.
He said customers could pay $270 up front to turn off the meter radio, with either a monthly charge of $14 or a special rate of 0.387 cents per therm for gas customers or 0.26 cents per kilowatt hour for electric customers.
They could also choose a lower upfront payment of $135, with customers in that category paying a fixed monthly charge of $20, or 0.0532 cents per therm for gas or 0.036 cents per kilowatt hour for electric, Smith said.
Smith didn't have available current gas and electric rates to compare to those special increased rates.
Not having the radios on would necessitate having meter readers to read the devices, he said.
“For those that receive the new meter, the radio would never be turned on,” Smith said. For those who already have them, the radios would be turned off.
Those fees, the company said, would cover turning off the radio, manually reading the meters every month, modifying IT systems, providing information to customers on the program through call centers and other channels, and reinforcing the existing SmartMeter network to compensate for any degradation that turning off the radio causes.
Customers enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program would receive a discount of 20 percent, PG&E said. Customers would also have the option to take advantage of “reasonable” financing plans on the upfront charge.
The company said that customers who want their SmartMeters moved to a different location on their property can take advantage of an existing tariff to make that request. The cost of relocating the meter would vary depending on such factors as whether the customer receives underground or overhead service.
PG&E said if the CPUC approves its plan, the company “will work quickly to make the option available to customers.”
“We don't have an exact figure on how many customers may request it, but we will certainly work to accommodate any customer,” said Smith.
For those customers with the radios turned off, PG&E said they would not have available to them current and future services including hourly electric and daily gas usage data through a secure PG&E Web site; energy alerts; outage information; remote service connection; special time-varying rate programs; and in-home energy management devices that display the energy usage of your appliances.
PG&E's plan was submitted Thursday afternoon, within a few hours of the completion of the CPUC's most recent business meeting.
During the meeting the commission took several hours of public testimony from people from around the state – some who had driven down to San Francisco from Shasta County – to voice their concerns about SmartMeters.
The concerns expressed ranged from increased costs to health impacts.
Fairfax Mayor Larry Bragman told the commission, “Our community needs your help,” and asked committee members to permit municipal entities to opt out of having SmartMeters as a whole based on a majority vote of residents.
Peevey told the group to expect the submission of the PG&E proposal later that day, stating there would be a public proceeding on the plan.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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