California heat cooked smart meters, customer bills
Maryland is pressing ahead with smart, computerized meters. It would have been better if we had held back and let others make the mistakes that happen for all early adopters. It seems that hundreds of PG&E's smart meters in California got roasted by the heat and calculated that customers used more electricity than they really did.
This from the ABC TV station in San Francisco:
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- PG&E will issue some customers refunds after the utility discovered a rare SmartMeter defect.The meters, supplied by Landis+Gyr, occasionally run fast when experiencing a narrow band of high temperatures, resulting in a miscalculation of energy bills. The error affects fewer than 1,600 of the two million meters Landis+Gyr supplied to PG&E.
The meters will be replaced at no cost to customers. The utility will issue full refunds to customers who received inaccurate bills. The average refund will be about $40 per customer. PG&E will also issue a $25 credit for customer inconvenience and offer a free in-home energy audit to affected customers.
Comments
THE TRUTH FROM CALIFORNIA - PG$E CORPORATE MANAGEMENT LIE.
They finally admitted to 1600 inaccurate meters after denying it for three years.
To get the correct number of inaccurate meters (ALL IN THEIR FAVOR), add 4 zeroes: 16,000,000.
The Director of the Smart meter program, William Devereaux, was forced to resign after being caught breaking in to customer private communication groups to diffuse the truth about these Wireless meters.
The CEO of PG$E, Darbee, was forced to resign after the San Bruno killings and Wireless smart meter debacle.
They replace the figureheads, but we really need to get PG$E out of California and down the toilet.
The Public Utility Commission (PUC) facilitates the dirty deeds of the Utility Company. They don't represent the public. The PUC shields PG$E from liability from damage to customers via government authorization of these Wireless "Weapons" mounted on each home.
The WIRELESS meters are a disaster: increased costs to customers, security & hacking & privacy problems and widespread health problems with the greatest impact on our newborns, infants and children.
Posted by: RobertWilliams | May 5, 2011 11:53 AM
It is not merely about the ripoffs, though these are in the milions, not the hundreds, internationally. I spoke with a previously healthy 30-something man this weekend who has developed heart attack symptoms 3X (3 costly ER trips) from the smart meter on his home. When the smart meter was removed, these ceased. However, now the neighbors' meters are bothering him and he is having to flee his home and try to find a place with no smart meters. Is this America or the old Soviet Union or Nazi Germany? Have we gotten so FAT and happy that we allow people to steal our health and freedoms without a whimper? The smart meters on my home (two of them) have wreaked havoc with my health and the health of family members and pets. I advise taking all possible actions to stop the installations, including fencing off the meters, locking them up, signs, and going on the record. See your doctors and get letters. Insist that your legislators take a firm stand or vote them out of office. Get your town to ban them or vote them out. This is about survival. www.smartmeterdangers.org and www.causes.com/acasm
Posted by: Susan | May 9, 2011 12:20 PM