One Valley customers' frustration came to our attention and PG&E responded with ways to successfully track power your usage this summer.
With summer in full bloom thousands of PG&E's SmartMeter are busy tracking our power usage here in the Valley.
Jeff Smith, a PG&E spokesperson told us, "There is a tiered rate system in California. And what that means is you pay more for kilowatt hour of electricity the more you consume."
And the biggest draw comes from our need to cool off.
That's why Los Banos resident Diana Pfitzer was eager to get the new meter, track her usage and get email alerts if her use was about to cost more ...
She ran into a snag trying to sign up for the program by phone, "I called all day and every time I would receive a prompt of 30 to 60 minute wait.
A trip to her PG&E office got her a second number to sign up for the alert system, "It puts you thru a series of prompts, at the end of that the message was that I was ineligible for the program."
Her predicament brought us to PG&E's offices in Fresno where Jeff Smith offered some answers, "Once a SmartMeter is installed it typically takes 2 billing cycles or 60 to 90 days between the time the SmartMeter is installed and it's fully enabled to be read remotely."
Pfizer's meter is not yet being read remotely. When it is she'll get a welcome kit in the mail and a guide to usage and email alerts on her power use, "It's unfortunate that there is the program that supposed to be in place but really is not in place."
Meantime, Jeff smith says customers deserve better from PG&E, "We want to make sure that if customers have a concern not only do we want to address their concern."
And we'll keep you up to date on what happens with this SmartMeter.
PG&E SmartMeter Hotline
1-866-743-0263
