Smart meters do not matter to most people, or so it seems. I have been asking people who got a new meter to see if their electricity bills went up. Although they did go up, the rises are not significant—something in the neighborhood of 10%. People who are well informed about this type of news were not disappointed.

Electricity usage is the difference between the last reading on the meter and the current reading. Since PG&E does not work with Google PowerMeter or Microsoft Hohm, I log in to my account to see what’s going on. I guess in six weeks or so I should be able to see my electricity usage by the hour. It has been only three weeks since the meter was installed, and I can only see the information by the month. I guess it was like that before the smart meter.

I have covered the problem with smart meters in the past. Many consumers in central California complained about the meters’ accuracy when they received a bill two or three times as high as before the meter was installed. Some complained to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and others started a lawsuit against PG&E. CPUC took this problem seriously and hired an outside consulting firm to test the accuracy of the smart meters in question. PG&E also testified at the California Assembly and published the meter quality information.

Recently, CPUC took another step to satisfy consumers, according to the Central Valley Business Times.

The California Public Utilities Commission has ordered the state’s largest utility—Pacific Gas & Electric company, to make public all of its reports on implementation of so-called "smart meters."

	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		Making Large UPS Systems More Efficient
	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As a consumer, I am very much interested in this report. But as an analyst, I find it an invaluable source of information about how PG&E designed and architected the smart meter program. I can get hold of such a report since:

Under the new ruling, PG&E must provide a copy of its reports—or a link to a website where they are available—within two days to anyone making a request.

How soon does it happen? Actually, I found the link here.

Tags: Energy Efficiency