CPUC: PG&E Should Allow SmartMeter Opt-Outs

Too late? While 86-88 percent of the meters in Milpitas already have been converted to Smart Meters, the public agency that regulates PG&E is now opening the door for an alternative—opting out.

At Thursday's California Public Utilities Commission meeting, the president, Michael Peevey, addressed dozens of people who spoke about the health risks associated with the meters.

“[I have asked PG&E to] bring to this commission a proposal or a series of proposals that will allow customers with an aversion to wireless devices the option of being metered without the use of wireless technology,” he said.

“This is fantastic news,” said Sandi Maurer, founder of the EMF Safety Network, who had previously filed a motion with the CPUC asking for a moratorium on the installation of the meters. 

The wireless digital meters have come under fire over the last year, because of concerns about health effects, security, privacy and accuracy. At the Oct. 5 Milpitas City Council meeting in which PG&E representative Andrew Tang made a presentation, residents such as Kendra Williams said her bill had almost doubled, even though she had not increased her use of electricity.

Foster's Freeze owner Kim Ung said his bills have also increased, and he had a PG&E representative go to the business and check his Smart Meter. The PG&E representative found the meter to be working accuracy and suggested the old meter had been wrong, he said.

In response to customer complaints, CPUC issued a report last year after hiring an independent consultant to test a sampling of Smart Meters in the San Joaquin Valley. They found the results to be accurate.

But PG&E has said in the past that it was , such as wired meters, mostly because of health concerns related to electro-magnetic frequencies and radio frequencies. PG&E has maintained, however, that the meters are safe and .

“It’s something we’ve actually been looking at,” said PG&E spokeswoman Katie Romans of the CPUC’s order. “The order certainly advances the timeline.”

PG&E has until March 24 to come up with a plan to implement the opt-out, while continuing installation of the meters otherwise, and take that plan back to the CPUC.

Romans said some of the key questions that will be resolved by the March 24 plan are what the various options are for those who choose to opt-out, what the cost impacts of those options would be, and what PG&E will do about those customers who already have the new meters installed in their homes.

“We really will have to look at who we are talking about,” said Romans.

It in unlikely that customers will simply be allowed to opt for their current analog meter, given that those are in the process of being phased out by manufacturers, she said. Additionally, PG&E still has a mandate to implement upgrades to the overall system and install a smart grid to allow for energy efficiency programs down the line. It is likely, then, that customers will be given a wired or digital option.

“How do we address these customers’ concerns while still ensuring them these environmental benefits,” Romans said.

Peevey also said in his statement that PG&E’s proposal for “some form of opt-out for customers who object to these devices” could be achieved at a “reasonable cost” that will be paid for by the customers who choose to opt-out.

Here's how many Smart Meters have been installed in Milpitas as of March 4:

The meters use a combination of radio and microwaves to transmit data from the digital meter attached to your house to a transponder on a nearby telephone pole. That data is then transmitted via a cellular mesh network back to PG&E. 

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See PG&E's presentation on the city's website.