Oct. 15, 2009
The Public Utilities Commission is there for consumers.
Really! I swear, I’m not making it up.
Michael Peevey, president of the PUC, told me that himself in response to a list of demands sent by State Sen. Dean Florez who’s looking into complaints about outrageous power bills in Bakersfield.
Florez held a “lively” hearing Oct. 5 in which hundreds of consumers vented about skyrocketing bills and other problems many believed were caused by so-called SmartMeters installed over the last two years by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
He then sent PUC and PG&E letters asking both entities to increase customer service and prove the meters are reliable.
The PUC responded Wednesday. Not a peep so far from PG&E.
Peevey told me he’s eager to restore consumer confidence and would set up an independent SmartMeter testing group.
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with PG&E,” he said. “The PUC will organize it and consumers can go through us.”
He said he and the PUC take this situation very seriously. “We’re a consumer protection agency and it’s our intention to get to the bottom of this.”
There is a glitch with at least some SmartMeters, he agreed. Though he said there are 2.5 million SmartMeters throughout the state and 250,000 in Kern County with only “a couple hundred” reported problems. (Not sure if he’s including customers in Caaveras County, who are screaming the same kind of bloody murder we are.)
“We need to keep the problem in perspective,” Peevey said. “I’m not diminishing the problem. We did not do an adequate job of testing.”
Aside from independent testing, Peevey promised to create an internal task force so the PUC would be kept in the loop on PG&E/SmartMeter issues. Florez had asked for a citizen oversight committee.
Florez wasn’t impressed by Peevey’s response.
It lacked a sense of urgency and any real interest in exploring SmartMeter reliability, he said.
The independent testing was a good first step, he said.
But he slammed the PUC for not requiring a stringent testing protocol in the first place.
“I certainly don’t get a sense that the PUC is willing to conduct the type of critical review of the SmartMeter process and operation that is necessary to ensure they are working properly and that customers aren’t being harmed,” Florez said.
Peevey stood behind the program as part of the anticipated “smart grid,” in which consumers will be able to see from any computer how much power we’re using at any given time and adjust usage depending on that moment’s prices.
Nifty. Except we don’t have that capability now and no one seems to know when we will or how much it will cost to get it.
Meanwhile, consumers are in the dark about how much power we are using, when we’re approaching the high cost “upper tier” electricity and even whether our new meters are faulty.
All we know, is our bills are going up, up, up with no end in sight.
Maybe I’m cranky, but that doesn’t seem like it’s watching out for me at all.
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