In the wake of a flurry of customer complaints, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) welcomed the release by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) of an independent, third-party evaluation of the utility’s SmartMeter™ program.
The report, prepared by The Structure Group of Houston, Texas, states that PG&E’s new meters are recording customer electric usage accurately. It also found that issues that arose early in the program were limited in scope, were being “appropriately addressed by PG&E” and often reflected factors unrelated to the meters, including higher-than-normal energy usage caused by a heat wave.