LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake's county counsel is preparing a filing in opposition to Pacific Gas & Electric's recent proposal to allow customers to turns off radios within SmartMeter wireless devices if they agree to pay upfront and ongoing fees.

County Counsel Anita Grant said she and her staff also are continuing to explore opposition to the installations generally.

On March 8, the Board of Supervisors passed a temporary moratorium on the installation of SmartMeters, despite the California Public Utilities Commission's stance that only it can pass and enforce such moratoria, as Lake County News has reported.

At that time, the board also approved sending a letter to state leaders in support of AB 37, which would require the CPUC to offer customers an opt-out on the devices, and additionally directed Grant to look at taking further legal action to stop the installations altogether.

The same week that the board took that action, the CPUC directed PG&E to submit an opt-out proposal, which it did on March 24. However, the plan has been greeted with opposition because it would require consumers who don't want the radios within the meters to pay hundreds more dollars a year to turn off the radios and service the meters.

Last week, Supervisor Anthony Farrington asked the board for a letter in opposition to the plan. “In my opinion I don't believe this is an opt out proposal at all.”

At that same meeting, Grant received board direction to file an opposition to the proposal.

She said she and her staff also are following the CPUC's meeting schedule to see when the proposal may be discussed. “We're keeping a close track on what gets agendized.”

Grant said the PG&E opt-out proposal is unclear about what happens to people who don't fit into the low-income funding level.

She said she believes her office will file the document by this Friday.

Grant said her office also is hearing from other communities outside of Lake County that area planning to file documents regarding their opposition to the proposal.

She said she and her deputy county counsels are looking at a larger legal challenge to SmartMeters based on the fact that the CPUC didn't require PG&E to conduct any environmental studies on the installation of millions of the meters, waiving the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The CEQA angle and a number of other issues may also be “valid counterpoints” to PG&E's opt-out proposal, Grant said.

“We're looking at every possible ground for challenge,” she said.

Last week a Kern County Superior Court judge reportedly dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed against PG&E that aimed to stop SmartMeter installations based on inaccuracy and billing error claims.

Grant said of the approach on billing errors, “That one's not flying.”

That's why it's important to look at other potential avenues of protest when approaching the meters, she said.

“This is of major concern to people so we need to make sure we challenge and test this so people have a voice,” she said.

With all of the public outcry and the additional focus on SmartMeters, Grant said she believes the CPUC is reacting.

“They're going to face a lot more of these issues if they don't,” she said.

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