Smart Meters - Public Service Commission

SCE has compared the strength of smart meters’ RF signals to other household devices, and says that a cellphone
next to your ear emits a signal that’s tremendously stronger than a smart meter three feet away (the cellphone signal
being 4,960 microwatts per-centimeter-squared higher than the smart meter’s, to be exact).
Due to the complaints and various citizen action groups banning together against smart meters, the state Public
Utilities Commission will consider an opt-out proposal for consumers at its April 19 meeting.
The proposal was put forward March 15, and lays out the options on how to best institute an opt-out program, as well
as the cost. Choosing to opt out will not be free of charge.
The Public Utilities Commission’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates and the Consumer Power Alliance are pushing for
an analog meter opt-out option, because that’s what Pacific Gas and Electric Co. had to do for its customers in
Northern California.
The DRA is dedicated to “obtaining the lowest possible rate for service consistent with reliable and safe service
levels,” according to its site. The CPA is a group of concerned citizens and organizations that formed to oppose the
transitions to smart grids and smart meters.
SCE argues that it would be better if the opt-out option allowed customers to keep the meter they currently have, or
had, prior to the smart meter installations.
The opt-out proposal does not talk about the problems ratepayers had with privacy or health.
According to one proposal, if a customer wants to opt out now, he would have to pay an initial fee of $75, and after
that a monthly fee of $10. SCE estimated in the proposal that 61,000 of its customers would choose the opt-out
option, and it will be filing “updated costs associated with the opt-out option in the future.” But at $75a pop,
that initial $75 charge would cost folks $4.6 million, and the ongoing monthly $10 charge would haul in $610,000 a
month.
These rates may change after the CPUC meetings conclude.
“The big issue is that rates need to be lowered to compensate for the higher readings you get with smart meters and
‘opt out’ does nothing about this,” Wiseman said. “And yet all of the electricity providers are going to the CPUC
requesting higher rates. I think the CPUC is heavily tilted in favor of the electricity providers and hardly anyone at the
CPUC is looking out for the interests of consumers. Unless the public is aware and upset, nothing will change.”
The CPUC said that the utility companies it regulates are required to submit rate applications every threeyears, so
requests to change rates are nothing new.
But the possibility of an opt-out program isn’t enough for Maureen Howman of Stop OC Meters.
“People need to be made aware and they need to tell people they have a choice,” Howman said. “They have a choice
to keep the original system they have right now or switch. It’s not right constitutionally.”
If you want to weigh in on this issue, you can file a comment with the CPUC at public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov. We
will update you after the April 19 CPUC meeting.