PG&E admits tens of thousands of problems with new SmartMeters

[Newsjock]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

After months of denying any technical problems with its SmartMeter program, PG&E publicly detailed a range of glitches Monday affecting tens of thousands of the digital meters.

But the San Francisco-based utility said it had found just eight meters that inaccurately reported a customer's energy use, despite thousands of complaints from customers who say the new meters have overcharged them. The utility would not say how many of the 5.5 million meters installed so far have been tested for accuracy after installation.

PG&E detailed 43,376 cases in which the meters were involved in other kinds of problems. It said 23,000 meters were installed improperly, 11,376 failed to retain consumer usage information and 9,000 had trouble connecting with the wireless network.

"No technology is infallible. No technology is completely immune to human error. And, to my knowledge, no one at PG&E has made such a claim," Helen Burt, PG&E senior vice president and chief customer officer, said in prepared remarks before a California Senate hearing Monday. "Last fall, when we said 'the meters work,' we meant it. They do. But that doesn't mean that every single one of them works 100 percent of the time."

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