Smart Meters - Public Service Commission

A.M. instead of 6:20 P.M.I can hardly wait until summer when either we are awakened every night at a
quarter of one or we try to sleep sans our ceiling fan. I’ll give credit to the second PG&E rep tho, he called us a
couple of days after the new “smart meter” was installed to see if the problem was still on-going; good
customer service, while appreciated, is no substitute for a ceiling fan during a Bakersfield summer. The
computer boards on these fans are expensive and I don’t want to have to replace them. More importantly we
want to use the appliances that we so handsomely pay electricity for, in the manner and at the time of our
choosing – NOT ACCORDING TO PG&E’s SCHEDULE BECAUSE THEY CAN NOT GET IT OR WILL NOT
MAKE IT RIGHT!
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If anyone thinks that these so-called “Smart Meters” are for anything other than increasing profits is a fool.
The meter currently on the house is working just fine. The investment was made and recouped long ago. The
electric company is not going to spend hundreds of dollars per living unit (house, apartment, condo or
otherwise) to buy and install these meters so you and I can pay less money.
They can sit back and continue to collect on what’s out there right now or they can put in new meters and
charge more money under the cloak of “it’s green” or “it’ll only charge you for what you use”.
Electric, water and sewer should be required to be non-profit. These are the most basic of utilities.
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The Not-So-Smart Meter was installed on my house in October 2007 since the installation my bills have been
three times more expensive than before. I have call PG&E each month after receiving my bill. At first I was
shocked and thought that there must have been a mistake, of course PG&E says that the meter is accurate,
they gave me some suggestions to save more energy which I went over and beyond to change. I bought new
applicances, turned the water heater down much lower than what they recommend, the ac/heater is set at 64
degrees so we pretty much freeze our tushs off in the winter and burn up in the summer! PG&E actually told
me not to turn on lights and begin using electrictiy when I come home from work. I have been living by candle
light in order to save on my bill. A month goes by and I get another bill and it is only a few cents less than the
previous months bill. I called once again and requested that someone come out to my house to make sure that
there is not a problem and PG&E told me that they only thing they would do is check my stove, ac/heater and
water heater and since they are all gas then I need to call the gas company. I explained that I don’t have a
problem with my gas bill and that it’s the electricity bill that I have a problem with. For the last four months
my PG& E bill has been roughly the same amount each month, and I have been using the same amount of
electricity as I was using last year but my bill is three times as high. I also have several co-workers who are
experiencing the same problem. I feel sorry for the elderly who are on a fixed income. How are they going to
pay for their bill. I feel that I am working to pay for my bill and I’m not home for most hours in the day! I
believe that there is a problem with the new meters and that PG&E definitely needs to look into the problem.
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I’ve noticed that my computer speakers make odd buzzing noises at different times of the day, and I suspect
that my smart meter has something to do with it.
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I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned the safety risk from these new wireless smartmeter devices.
They communicate as an always-on, two-way wireless device operating in the microwave band. This energy
exposure is now a known carcinogen, and since these smartmeters will be transmitting their radiation 24
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