Health & Fitness
PUC Orders PG&E to Offer Analog Meters as Sole Smart Meter Opt-Out Option
The proposed cost of this option has been lowered to between $5 (for low income customers) and $10 a month, but is still problematic.
Today (Jan. 16), in response to mounting public pressure, Michael Peevey, head commissioner for the California Public Utilities Commission, ordered the state's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, to make analog meters the sole opt-out option, rather than electronic (rf-emitting) meters.
The proposed cost of this option has been lowered to between $5 (for low income customers) and $10 a month, but is still problematic, as many members of the public feel smart meter opt-outs should be offered at no cost.
PG&E must produce a letter that they will send to their customers and smart meter delay list members to President Peevey, within 20 days of this ruling, so we might anticipate that a final ruling will be made in early February.
Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
It is anticipated that this ruling will be adopted as the model for SDG&E and SCE, as the Division of Ratepayer Advocates for CPUC previously requested that statewide opt-out policies be consistent across utilities.
The opt-out proceedings for both Southern CA utilities are in final stages. Activists feel it will be necessary to keep up the public pressure on CPUC to be sure that this occurs, and to demand no-cost analogs as opt-out options, with viable options for people living in group settings such as apts or condos, and with hypersensitivities to rf radiation, and ultimately, to eliminate wireless, microwave-emitting radiation smart meters from all utility systems.
Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
To learn more about how to take action about the problem of smart meters, click here. To contact President Michael Peevey email him at mp1@cpuc.ca.gov or call 415-703-3703. To contact the Administrative Law Judge, Amy Yip-Kikugawa, Administrative Law Judge for CPUC ruling on SDG&E and SCE opt-out proposals, email her at amy.yip-kikugawa@cpuc.ca.gov.
Partial wording of today's announcement (full decision available in Media at top right):
"This decision modifies Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) SmartMeter Program to include an option for residential customers who do not wish to have a wireless SmartMeter installed at their location. The opt-out option shall be an analog electric and/or gas meter.
This new opt-out option is a service that we are adopting with this decision. This opt-out option is a service because the standard for metering has been transitioned throughout the country and for the most part the world from the older technology, analog meters, to today’s technology, SmartMeters. In this decision we are not reversing that transition, however, we do approve an option for those customers who, for whatever reason, would prefer an analog meter.
.......
O R D E R
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) SmartMeter Program is modified to include an option for residential customers who do not wish to have a wireless SmartMeter installed at their location to have an analog meter.
2. Within 15 days of the effective date of this order, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) shall file a Tier 1 advice letter in compliance with General Order 96-B. The advice letter shall be served on the service list in Application 11-03-014. The advice letter shall include tariff sheets to modify PG&E’s SmartMeter Program to include an opt-out option for customers who do not wish to have a wireless SmartMeter installed at their location and to implement a SmartMeter Opt-Out Tariff (SMOOT).
The Advice Letter filing shall:
a. Establish procedures for residential customers to select the option to have an analog meter if they do not wish to have a wireless Smart Meter.
b. Establish procedures to inform customers currently on the delay list that a SmartMeter opt-out option is available and that the customer will be scheduled to receive a wireless Smart Meter unless the customer elects to exercise the opt-out option.
c. Adopt the following interim fees for residential customers selecting the opt-out option:
For Non-CARE and Non-FERA Customers:
Initial Fee $90.00
Monthly Charge $10.00/month
For CARE and FERA Customers:
Initial Fee $10.00
Monthly Charge $5.00/month
d. Establish new two-way electric and gas Modified Smart Meter Memorandum Accounts to track revenues and costs associated with providing the Smart Meter opt-out option.
3. The September 21, 2011 Assigned Commissioner’s Ruling directing the utilities to allow residential customers who had not yet received a wireless Smart Meter to retain their analog meter and to be placed on a delay list shall no longer be in effect for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
4. Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall comply with the guidelines stated in Section 7 of this decision.
5. Application 11-03-014 remains open.
This order is effective today." (January 16th, 2012)
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For more info on smart meters and the health and other complaints associated with them, visit www.electrosmogprevention.org and www.smartmeterdangers.org.
Susan Brinchman
Director and Founder, Center for Electrosmog Prevention
P.O. Box 655
La Mesa, CA
91944
director@electrosmogprevention.org
www.electrosmogprevention.org
Smart Meter Dangers http://www.smartmeterdangers.org/
Southern Californians Against Smart Meters
American Coalition Against Smart Meters www.causes.com/acasm
No2SmartMeters@Twitter.com
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Related articles on La Mesa Patch:
PG&E, Northern Calif. Utility, Signals Willingness to Restore Analog Meters
SDG&E Files Opt-Out Proposal for Its Problem-Ridden Smart Meters
Revealed: SDG&E Smart Meter Technical Data and Bio-Effects
Open Letter to Sempra & SDG&E Demanding Analog Meter Replacement of Smart Meter
SDG&E May Have to Provide Smart Meter Opt-Out Plan to State PUC
Protest SDG&E Rate Hikes, Smart Meters at PUC Meetings
Alert: PUC Commissioner Orders SDG&E & SCE to Let Customers Delay Smart Meters
The Great CPUC Dog and Pony Show (aka Smart Meter Opt-Out Workshop)
Anti-Smart Meter Rally, Press Conference and Smart Meter Opt-Out Workshop 9/14/11
Underlying Cause of the Southwestern Blackout, Sept. 8, 2011: Failure of the Smart Grid
Living Nightmare: How SDG&E Smart Meter Led to Headaches, Hearing Loss
Smart Meter Nightmare #2: San Diego man sick from bank of smart meters
Smart Meter Nightmare #3: East County Woman and Pet Sick, Begging for Help http://lamesa.patch.com/blog_posts/smart-meter-nightmare-3-east-county-w...
Smart Meter Nightmare #4: SoCal Landlord Says Meters Hurting Her Tenants
Smart Meter Nightmare #5: Senior Citizen Replaces Smart Meter With Analog http://lamesa.patch.com/blog_posts/smart-meter-nightmare-5-senior-citize...
THESE TWO BELOW RELATED, BUT NON-PATCH, TO ARTICLE ABOVE:
Local woman confronts PG&E over ‘smart meter’
http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/local/article_ad8a0666-e5ac-11e0-9f83-001cc4c002e0.html
Resident tells PG&E to end her service
http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/local/article_e08eebb6-e738-11e0-85c7-001cc4c002e0.html
Message for SDG&E: Allow Opt-outs from Smart Meters
Take Action: How to Opt Out of Radiation-Emitting Smart Meters
Open Letter to the La Mesa City Council: Tell SDG&E to Stop the Smart Meters
