PG&E apologizes for customer service failings in SmartMeter rollout
| Monday, May 10 2010 08:01 PM
Last Updated Monday, May 10 2010 08:01 PM
Restoring trust
PG&E announced several moves it hopes will improve customer confidence in its SmartMeter program:
* Call all customers who receive an estimated bill for two billing cycles to explain reasons for the estimations and make arrangements for payment
* Add 165 customer service representatives to improve customer service and help with billing questions
* Expand side-by-side tests of SmartMeters and old-fashioned electric meters, to 300 homes from 150
* Increase the number of PG&E "Answer Centers' to provide personal service when responding to customer concerns
* Set up a dedicated SmartMeter call center to ensure specialized handling of questions about the devices
* Revamp customer outreach around SmartMeter installations, including messages timed to introduce people to the devices and their benefits
* Communicate with customers multiple times, in different ways, about the devices
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. issued its most extensive public apology to date Monday on how it has handled customer concerns about its SmartMeter system -- and outlined specific steps it is taking to improve confidence in the devices.
At a news conference just before PG&E's release of 667 pages of previously confidential SmartMeter reports, Helen Burt, the company's senior vice president and chief customer officer, repeatedly acknowledged letting customers down and failing to share information about the meters early on.
She went as far as to thank the news media for taking customers' calls "because we didn't do a good job to respond to (customers') questions and respond to their needs."
The San Francisco-based gas and electric utility was too focused on building and maintaining its infrastructure to see its operations the way a customer would, Burt said.
"If you think about it," she said, "we really didn't see the world through the lens of the customers."
'Unprecedented' detail
The documents PG&E released Monday afternoon (available online at www.pge.com/smartmetercpucreports) comprise monthly updates over a period of about four years, beginning with the start of the SmartMeter rollout in mid-2006.
These updates were originally sent to PG&E's primary regulator, the state Public Utilities Commission, as well as the commission's consumer advocate arm, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates. Last week the commission ordered PG&E to make public the reports, which have been edited to remove certain proprietary information. Future updates are expected to be released publicly as they are filed with the commission.
The PG&E critic who exerted the most pressure to have the reports made public, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, D-Shafter, expressed dismay that they weren't released earlier.
"After reviewing the data that was released today, I can't find any instance where this very basic information shouldn't have been voluntarily released in the first place," he wrote in a news release. "Again, this is such a small step toward transparency to begin with, I would characterize it more as (a) slow crawl toward the truth than anything else."
Burt, however, described the information as "unprecedented in breadth and scope." She said the reports provide "really a high level of window into the SmartMeter program and its implementation."
Uniquely problematic
SmartMeters are designed to provide information about customer energy use remotely, eliminating the need for meter readers and, ideally, giving customers up-to-the-hour information on their consumption habits. Similar to technology already in use in Europe and other parts of the United States, the devices are intended to pave the way for a national "smart grid" that the industry hopes will drive wiser power generation and lower energy bills.
But PG&E's rollout of the technology has been uniquely problematic. Customers in Bakersfield and elsewhere have complained of skyrocketing bills shortly after the meters' installation, followed by PG&E denials that the devices played any role in the increases.
Prodded by Florez and others, the commission has contracted an outside company to investigate the meters and look into customer complaints. Results of the study are expected out in late summer.
'Not about statistics'
Not until recently has PG&E acknowledged that SmartMeters have, in tens of thousands of cases, contributed to the problems, if not actually caused them.
Burt spent time at Monday's news conference reiterating data on SmartMeter problems. She said that about 1 percent of the company's 5.5 million existing meters have had troubles, ranging from communication failures to incorrect installations.
The data do not excuse the company's shortcomings in customer service, she said.
"This is not about statistics," she said. "This is about people. This is about customers."
Burt went on to say that the company has received close to 1,000 customer complaints about SmartMeters.
"It's a thousand too many," she said.
