Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) faced many doubts and complaints as they rolled out their smart meter program, but an independent study released last week confirmed that the meters are technologically sound. This announcement releases a lot of tension for the utility– the smart meter program had incurred customer protests, bureaucratic red tape, and even backlash from cities like San Francisco. The study found that the smart meters posed no technical problems.
The real issue, it seemed, was communicating changes to customers and responding to their concerns effectively. To quote the study, which was conducted by the Structure Group of Houston, customers were “consistently treated by PG&E as wrong, until the customer proved to PG&E that they were right.”
PG&E’s efforts to install smart meters have garnered national attention because utilities around the country plan to implement similar technologies in the next few years. California has become a testing ground for smart meters, just as it has for many other solutions to energy and environmental problems. Smart meters are the key consumer-level technology needed to upgrade the national electricity grid, a gargantuan project that has received $3.4 billion from the Obama administration. PG&E’s stumbling blocks have actually made a great case study for others, demonstrating the effect of poor communication and service on a worthwhile project. Utilities around the country have closely watched the implementation of smart meters in California, where environment and energy solutions are often tested.
In this first test for smart meters, the most common problem was that people believed they were charged more for electricity after a smart meter was installed. This claim turned out to be totally unfounded. If any rate increases were observed, they happened because people used more energy in the heat wave that occurred last summer. Unfortunately the timing coincided with many smart meter installations. People were understandably skeptical, but it turned out that the smart meters were not to blame. The smart meters were actually more accurate than the old analog ones.
Another complaint arose when some customers began believing that electromagnetic radiation from the meters could cause cancer. This claim appears unsubstantiated since radio frequency emissions from smart meters are already quite low. As PG&E Vice President Helen Burt explained, “one would have to live with a smart meter for 13,000 years to be exposed to as much radiation as one gets from a cellphone, with moderate use, in one year.” Nonetheless, the just-completed study did not investigate health effects of the meters, so PG&E cannot completely discard it. Opponents are also ramping up radiation complaints after the study was published.
Some of these complaints are rooted in pure fear of technological change, but they will have to be overcome if smart meters are to earn the widespread support that their technology deserves. The first step, it seems, will be for PG&E to answer customers’ phone calls and guide them through this upgrade.
No, my bill hasn’t suddenly increased nor I’m paranoid about radiation. The problems are that ever since PGE installed this piece of junk, my satellite reception crapped out by pausing every few seconds, my outdoor motion sensor light goes on all the time and my baby monitor gives loud static pops every few seconds. I understand that the frequency range is shared by many consumer devices but all my devices were talking to each other fine until this crap was installed. But PGE places the blame on my equipment that have been working fine? I see no difference between forcing consumers to unnecessarily buy new equipment and having their bills jacked up.