CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Following action taken earlier this month by the Lake County Board of Supervisors, on Thursday night the Clearlake City Council voted to institute a moratorium on SmartMeter installations and gave support to an Assembly bill that would require that consumers be able to opt out of having the devices.
The council voted unanimously both to impose an urgency ordinance adopting the moratorium against the Pacific Gas & Electric wireless metering devices and to accept a resolution supporting AB 37, both actions taken by the supervisors on March 8.
Unlike the board, however, the council did not vote to take legal action to stop the installations.
Since the board's action, installations have continued around the county, although many residents have reported telling installers with Wellington Energy, PG&E's contractor, that they don't want the meters, which appears to have been sufficient to gain short-term delays.
The devices have raised concerns for residents across the state who have questioned their safety, ability to keep information private, and whether or not the energy rates would increase.
The council's votes came on the same day that PG&E submitted an opt-out proposal for customers to the California Public Utilities Commission, which has directed the utility to come up with the plan on March 10.
Interim City Administrator Steve Albright said the city's urgency ordinance would be in effect until Dec. 31, and is similar to the one accepted by the Board of Supervisors.
While the document prohibits PG&E from installing the devices, “At this time I think it's safe to say we think we have limited authority to enforce the ordinance,” Albright said.
Albright said if people ask PG&E not to install the meters, they won't at this time. “There has been an impact statewide from the citizens who are concerned about SmartMeters,” he said.
Referring to those citizens concerns, Albright said, “Hopefully, at the very least, it will encourage the board of the Public Utilities Commission to go forward with their opt-out rule.”
PG&E spokesman Justin Real told the council that PG&E had submitted the opt-out plan earlier in the afternoon.
Real, who said he brought with him outreach and radio frequency specialists, reported that PG&E had held two educational centers in Clearlake and seven in the entire county to introduce the meters to residents.
Councilman Curt Giambruno asked if the new meters were similar to a time of usage meter he had had some time ago.
Michael Herz, a PG&E electromagnetic field project manager, said that older meter tracked usage at peak and off peak times, which he said is similar to the SmartMeters.
Giambruno said he had the meter for 18 years and it had helped him save money. Then one day PG&E showed up and took it without explanation. “I've often wondered why,” Giambruno said, adding he was concerned about what PG&E is doing now.
Council member Judy Thein asked if there would be a cost to opt out of having a SmartMeter. Herz said yes, explaining the company would have to use meter readers.
Herz told the council that, while the CPUC is reviewing PG&E's opt-out proposal, the company will not install the new meters for customers who have called the company's SmartMeter hotline – 866-743-0263 – and asked to be put on the “do not install” list, which essentially puts them at the end of the installation process.
Vice Mayor Joey Luiz asked why the company planned to install the new meters, suggesting that leaving the old meters in place would save money and prevent higher costs. Herz urged the city to contact the CPUC and make that suggestion.
Council member Jeri Spittler said PG&E has charged customers for the meters and is now trying to charge customers not to have the meters.
“This whole thing is about money and how much money PG&E can make, and I find it appalling,” she said.
During public comment, Chuck Leonard, who retired from the council last year, said he was in favor of the meters.
“I've waited for this technology to come along, I think it's a fantastic idea,” he said, noting there is no “opt-in” option if the moratorium was passed.
Leslie Sheridan, who advocates against the meters, said an opt-out program is great, but if some people have the devices and others don't, she suggested there is still an impact on public health.
Sheridan also faulted PG&E for the “appalling” way it has carried out the program, reporting that she's heard from people who asked not to have the meters and yet found them installed anyway.
She said PG&E gave aggressive direction to Wellington Energy to get the meters installed.
“This is a national movement against SmartMeters,” said Sheridan, raising issues of cost, potential for hacking the devices, health concerns and privacy.
Community member Bill Shields, who came home to find the installers putting the device in place on a Sunday, said they could have burned his house down. He claimed his thermostat was reset by the devices, causing his heater to burn up.
Luiz said that, with the exception of Leonard, he'd not heard from anyone supporting the meters.
He was concerned about rate increases, telling PG&E that he didn't want to have the city's low-income seniors “help you guys be more profitable.”
Thein, noting, “Sometimes it reaches a point where we all have to stand together for our communities,” suggested Clearlake, Lakeport and the county needed to stand together on the SmartMeter issue, much as they had done successfully with ordinances relating to controlling pseudoephedrine sales – because it's an ingredient used in methamphetamine production – spaying and neutering pets, and underage drinking.
Luiz moved to approve the ordinance, with the council voted 5-0 to support.
During the brief discussion that followed on the resolution supporting AB 37, Shields brought up putting installers under citizens arrest, an approach interim Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen cautioned citizens against taking.
“You open yourself up to civil liability if the arrest is false,” said Clausen, explaining that residents might not be able to use trespassing as a justification for arrest since the company has the right to service its equipment.
Luiz agreed with Thein about standing with the county on the issue, and said that with AB 37, it appears that there are people in the state government who also want to stand with the city.
Luiz moved to approve the resolution, which also passed 5-0.
The Lakeport City Council is expected to discuss its own possible action against SmartMeters at its first meeting in April.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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