Bravo, for PG&E.
They came up with a solution to the tempest in a teapot over wireless Smart Meters allegedly generating enough radiation to harm human health.
They have agreed to accommodate those with such concerns by allowing them to opt out without sticking it to all of the other ratepayers.
The plan PG&E is proposing to the California Public Utilities Commission would have customers pay $270 upfront and $14 a month on their utility bill or, if they want a lower upfront cost, initially pay $135 and then $20 a month thereafter.
The upfront costs are to pay a technician to physically go out to the meter and turn off the transmitter. The monthly charge covers the cost of having the meters read up close by a meter reader. There would also be a charge when the customer moves out of the home to reactivate the meter.
The entire idea behind Smart Meters is to reduce costs and to get more accurate readings.
Under the old labor intensive way, meter readers walked neighborhoods and had to often peer over fences when gate were locked or dogs were in yards to read meters with a binocular type device, walk into yards, or - if they couldn’t do either - estimate usage until such time they could read the meters. It also eliminated a very real concern of ratepayers that PG&E - if they couldn’t read all meters in a month - would estimate usage and bill accordingly.
Smart Meters provide a quick, efficient way to get accurate information by simply driving through a neighborhood with a scanning device.
It also avoids a repeat of the tragedy back in the mid-1970s when two PG&E meter readers were shot to death as they were driving away from a rural Granite Bay residence in Placer County after they apparently interrupted a burglary.
Any way you look at it, Smart Meters make sense except for those who think they are going to incur radiation sickness.
Of course, critics believe PG&E should shut off Smart Meters and the use labor intensive eye ball readings for free. But whey should everyone else have to pay for their special treatment?
Yes, PG&E is a monopoly and richly deserves criticism for many of its decisions that seem to be motivated not from customer service concerns but by profit first and foremost. This is not one of them. Wild fluctuations in monthly power bills will disappear.
There have been some concerns that the meters aren’t accurate. What few have been found to have flaws is statistically minuscule compared to errors made by eye ball readings or when the utility is forced to estimate bills.
If there is one drawback it is the fact the Smart Meters used can’t be readily tied into the evolving smart grid that would allow you to monitor electricity and natural gas use in real time on your computer. Such devices give you a clear picture of what an appliance is using or how much energy lights are consuming when they are left on.
That is more a failing, though, of the CPUC that should have mandated power companies to use such technology. They are the ones, after all, that should be looking out for ratepayers and consumers as well as making sure customers have all of the tools they need to wisely manage their energy use.
They came up with a solution to the tempest in a teapot over wireless Smart Meters allegedly generating enough radiation to harm human health.
They have agreed to accommodate those with such concerns by allowing them to opt out without sticking it to all of the other ratepayers.
The plan PG&E is proposing to the California Public Utilities Commission would have customers pay $270 upfront and $14 a month on their utility bill or, if they want a lower upfront cost, initially pay $135 and then $20 a month thereafter.
The upfront costs are to pay a technician to physically go out to the meter and turn off the transmitter. The monthly charge covers the cost of having the meters read up close by a meter reader. There would also be a charge when the customer moves out of the home to reactivate the meter.
The entire idea behind Smart Meters is to reduce costs and to get more accurate readings.
Under the old labor intensive way, meter readers walked neighborhoods and had to often peer over fences when gate were locked or dogs were in yards to read meters with a binocular type device, walk into yards, or - if they couldn’t do either - estimate usage until such time they could read the meters. It also eliminated a very real concern of ratepayers that PG&E - if they couldn’t read all meters in a month - would estimate usage and bill accordingly.
Smart Meters provide a quick, efficient way to get accurate information by simply driving through a neighborhood with a scanning device.
It also avoids a repeat of the tragedy back in the mid-1970s when two PG&E meter readers were shot to death as they were driving away from a rural Granite Bay residence in Placer County after they apparently interrupted a burglary.
Any way you look at it, Smart Meters make sense except for those who think they are going to incur radiation sickness.
Of course, critics believe PG&E should shut off Smart Meters and the use labor intensive eye ball readings for free. But whey should everyone else have to pay for their special treatment?
Yes, PG&E is a monopoly and richly deserves criticism for many of its decisions that seem to be motivated not from customer service concerns but by profit first and foremost. This is not one of them. Wild fluctuations in monthly power bills will disappear.
There have been some concerns that the meters aren’t accurate. What few have been found to have flaws is statistically minuscule compared to errors made by eye ball readings or when the utility is forced to estimate bills.
If there is one drawback it is the fact the Smart Meters used can’t be readily tied into the evolving smart grid that would allow you to monitor electricity and natural gas use in real time on your computer. Such devices give you a clear picture of what an appliance is using or how much energy lights are consuming when they are left on.
That is more a failing, though, of the CPUC that should have mandated power companies to use such technology. They are the ones, after all, that should be looking out for ratepayers and consumers as well as making sure customers have all of the tools they need to wisely manage their energy use.
