Outage exposes SmartMeter flaw
METERS: Errors don't affect bills
| Friday, May 08 2009 08:40 PM
Last Updated Monday, May 11 2009 11:46 AM
PG&E's billing inquiries phone number is (800) PGE-5000
The Utility Reform Network can be reached at (800) 355-8876
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Lois Henry's column on PG&E's SmartMeter program can be found online at: bakoview.blogspot.com
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Alex Horvath / The Californian Tim Vanderhorst and his PG&E Smart Meter. There's a problem with the PG&E SmartMeters. Apparently it does not affect your bill -- but it does sort of undermine the intention to provide customers with accurate information by which they can adjust their electricity usage. Vanderhorst, went online after a five-hour power outage and was astonished to see that the company was showing him using a lot of electricity during that period.
The power went out at Tim Vanderhorst's house in east Bakersfield for almost six hours on April 20. So why, when the lights came back on, was his computer showing that his electricity usage had tripled during that time?
The answer to that question has exposed a glitch in Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s SmartMeter system, one that the company says it was aware of but had no plans to address until Vanderhorst brought the problem to the attention of The Californian. Even now, the utility is unsure how to resolve the issue, which it points out has had no effect on its customers' bills.
"It's a flaw in the system, and we knew that," said Randy Dieterle, senior manager of PG&E's SmartMeter system.
What happened, according to Dieterle and other PG&E representatives, is that Vanderhorst's SmartMeter was not transmitting a signal as it should, and so the utility's computer system automatically filled in the blanks with data patterned after his past power usage, or that of customers like him.
This does not instill confidence in a system designed to give customers accurate and timely information about their own power usage, said Mindy Spatt, spokeswoman for The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based organization that advocates on behalf of California's utility customers.
"It doesn't sound like (the SmartMeters) are very smart," Spatt said, adding that some customers may question the accuracy of their bills given the potential inaccuracy of the data they find online.
The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates PG&E, was unresponsive. A spokesman for the commission took questions Friday but did not call back with answers.
PG&E defended the system -- including the way it sometimes generates what Dieterle called potentially "misleading" information for display online -- as useful for customers looking to understand their energy consumption.
Company representatives emphasize that the system tells people when their usage typically goes up, which can lead them to turn off appliances during hours of peak consumption.
SmartMeters are installed in 2.5 million homes statewide, and headed for another 7.5 million. They are much like traditional meters except that they have the ability to transmit data remotely. That information goes two places: a billing center, and a separate computer system that crunches the data and presents it online for customers who want to monitor their power usage.
Various factors may hinder the data transmissions, the company says, including radio interference, blackouts and electronic bandwidth limitations. PG&E representatives said the system is designed to deliver at least two good readings a day, thus ensuring billing accuracy.
Customers of PG&E's SmartRate program -- 1,600 in Bakersfield -- get priority in data transmissions, the company says. That's because these customers' bills reflect hourly usage. Company representatives said SmartRate customers are not charged for power used during periods of transmission problems such as blackouts.
Vanderhorst, a former PG&E meter reader who now works in maintenance for Bakersfield City School District, said he finds the devices generally useful.
"You could tell when we made coffee" by looking at his account online, he told company representatives Wednesday in downtown Bakersfield. "It's interesting to see."
One of the neighbors he shared his discovery with is county Supervisor Michael Rubio. After going online to view his account, Rubio, too, saw that he was supposedly using energy during the blackout. He said PG&E later told him the system was "broken for all intents and purposes," in that it was not an accurate reflection of his power usage.
Rubio said PG&E must be held accountable for fixing the online misrepresentation. Rubio said he intends to see to that.
"We're going to be following through and monitoring to make sure that (online) tool is developed for a consumer to monitor," Rubio said.
The utility plans to develop a solution by the end of the year, Dieterle said. That could entail indicating online when data is modeled after historical usage, he said, or possibly showing gaps when no actual information is available.
PG&E says the simulated usage data does not result in inaccurate bills, since the potentially misleading data only shows up on a Web site intended to teach customers about their power usage. The site contains a disclaimer stating that the data available online may "slightly differ" from information on bills.
In fall 2006, Bakersfield was the first market in the state to receive the SmartMeters, following a demonstration project in Northern California. PG&E has continued to install them in a northward pattern, and the ones being put in now are newer SmartMeters with more advanced technology. The company said even the newest versions do not reduce the chances of misleading information online.
Spatt, the TURN spokeswoman, said the SmartMeter program has been expensive -- originally estimated at $1.7 billion -- and that the cost is being passed on to PG&E's customers.
