California regulators Friday moved on an expedited basis to address two consumer concerns — one about the veracity of the multi-billion-dollar effort to install utility smart meters statewide, and the second, a high percentage of low-income energy consumers having their service cut off by the state’s major investor-owned energy utilities.

At its regular meeting Friday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) took steps to address both, coming in the wake of state legislative hearings on smart meter problems in the Bakersfield area and a critical report on the customer shutoffs by the CPUC independent consumer unit, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA).

Regarding the complaints that advanced metering systems are “cheating customers” or causing safety problems in regard to natural gas or electric utility service, the CPUC approved a request from its Executive Director Paul Clanon to declare that “extraordinary circumstances” exist that allow him to obtain third-party consulting services on an expedited basis, so an independent assessment of the smart metering program can be completed.

Clanon said that he will “come back” to the regulatory panel later to allow Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to pay for the study. CPUC Commissioner John Bohn cautioned that recent rate increases and weather factors should be included in the assessment of meters.

Complaints have centered on one portion of PG&E’s service area in the southern end of the state’s central San Joaquin Valley, but the assessment will reach into the other utilities’ territories, too, Clanon said. All four major private-sector utilities are in different stages of multi-year programs to install smart meters.

PG&E is installing thousands of meters daily, and Clanon acknowledged that the program “has not gone as smoothly as we all would have liked. There have been some great questions among consumers about the accuracy of the smart meters; there have been some very high bills at about the same time the meters were installed that are probably the result of a number of factors, but one factor could be the meter accuracy, and I know there have been some great public concerns about the accuracy.”

The CPUC has committed to state lawmakers who held hearings on the subject in the Bakersfield area that it will take a number of follow-up steps, Clanon said. “We are committed to getting to the bottom of the smart meter problem by bringing in independent consultants to test the meters.”

The DRA energy utility shutoff report compared disconnections from 2006 until August of this year, using data it said covers more than 12 million California households. The assessment showed that disconnections of low-income households increased by 19% last year, while they remained flat for other households. According to DRA, one-third of all California’s households are considered low income.

CPUC President Michael Peevey announced that in response to the DRA report identifying utility shutoffs as a growing problem, it was his intention “sometime in the next few weeks” to hold a hearing with the five CPUC members present in which each of the utilities will report in detail how they are handling the issue. This was something DRA recommended in its report, Peevey said.

“This will happen, and it will happen before Christmas, I assure you,” Peevey said.

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