Apr 8, 2010 6:32 pm US/Pacific
Vacaville Smart Meter Bill Stumps PG&E

Anna Werner Reporting
VACAVILLE (CBS 5) ―
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PG&E smart meter. CBS

Related StoriesWhat's going on with PG&E's new Smart Meters? A CBS 5 investigation prompted more than a hundred viewers to write in with horror stories about huge bills and excessive energy usage. Pacific Gas & Electric has insisted there are reasons that explain the complaints away. But CBS 5 has now found a case they can't explain.

After CBS 5's investigation, PG&E admitted that at least one new Smart Gas Meter may have been improperly installed. But we were told not a single electric meter had a problem, until now.

PG&E said there's always a reason. When Kailene Spray in Pleasant Hill complained that her energy usage shot up after her Smart Meter was installed, PG&E said her furnace caused the increase. When Chris White in Danville told them he had a big spike, PG&E said it was the weather. And in Brentwood when Steve Moon's bill rose exponentially, the company blamed increased rates.

What about Donna Lee Stewart in Vacaville? After PG&E installed a Smart Meter at her home last September, her electric bill shot up to $1,100 and what's more: "I looked at the kilowatts that I had supposedly used for that period of time and it was over 3,000 kilowatt hours. I knew that was a mistake." Because Stewart, a retired school teacher, keeps meticulous records, and has all her PG&E bills going back ten years.

Some simple arithmetic told her 3,000 kilowatt hours would be more than all the electricity she used in the entire eight months before PG&E installed that Smart Meter.

"Any reasonable person who looks at what my usage history has been has to know there is something the matter," said Stewart. But when a PG&E technician came out to check, she said he could find nothing the matter.

Even more puzzling to Stewart was what happened afterwards. "The meter dropped back down, to what was my normal usage. There was something wrong with the meter and I was determined to fight it," she said.

And fight she did, complaining first to the Public Utilities Commission, and then to CBS 5 Investigates. Reviewing her bills, we saw what looked like a spike in her electricity usage, beginning with the Smart Meter installation, then dropping back down the very day after the technician's visit, a spike that didn't seem like it could be easily explained. And now it turns out, the company said it can't.

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to determine specifically what did cause that increase," said PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith. He did agree the spike happened right after the new meter was installed.

Stewart is not the only one reporting that kind of problem. Over the past month, many other PG&E customers have complained to CBS 5 Investigates about what appear to be similar experiences. Smith said the company wants to hear from them.

Meanwhile in Vacaville, you know what teachers say: hard work pays off. Which it certainly did in Stewart's case. Studying her bills earned her a $1,200 dollar refund from PG&E. "I want the public to know that if they truly believe their meter isn't reading correctly they need to fight back," she said.

PG&E still insists they tested Stewart's meter and there's nothing wrong with it. But the company also now admits it has had some problems with the wireless transmission of data coming from those meters and as a result, some customers' bills have been estimated.
These issues aren't sitting well with legislators in Sacramento. They are holding hearings at the end of the month and Senator Dean Florez is calling for PG&E to put the Smart Meter program on hold in the meantime.
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