PG&E Proposing Rate Increases

PG&E has submitted a proposal that would charge customers an up-front fee, plus monthly fees and an exit fee, for customers who want to opt out of the utility's SmartMeter program.

The company submitted its proposal on Thursday to the California Public Utilities Commission in response to a March 10 order from the commission's president, requiring PG&E to provide options for residents with concerns about the SmartMeters.

Opponents of the wireless devices, which are meant to reduce energy consumption by monitoring utility use and transmitting the information in real time, argue the radio frequency waves emitted by the meters are detrimental to their health.

PG&E's proposal would give customers the option of having PG&E turn off or disable the radios inside their SmartMeters, which would eliminate the radio frequency, according to company.

The utility proposed charging $135 to $270 up front to have an employee turn off the meters, plus a $14 to $20 monthly fee to keep it off.

Customers could choose to pay a per-kilowatt-hour fee instead of the fixed monthly fee.

PG&E would also charge customers an exit fee when they terminate service so future customers could use the SmartMeters.

The utility estimated that about 145,800 customers could choose to have the meters turned off over the next two years, causing an estimated $84.4 million in capital costs and expenses.

The costs include sending personnel to turn off the meters, sending meter readers to manually check the modified meters every month, and upgrading the rest of the SmartMeter radio frequency network to compensate for any network degradation caused by the turned-off radios.

Customers can also ask to have their SmartMeters moved to different locations on their property at estimated costs of $2,500 to $4,500 for overhead-meter customers and $6,000 to $11,000 for underground customers.

PG&E's net income in 2010 was $1.1 billion.

As of March 1, the utility had installed 7.7 million gas and electric SmartMeters, which it says only transmit radio waves for milliseconds at a time and for very short durations.

--Bay City News