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Sensitivity 101: Data First, Then TOU Bills

by John Cooper on Monday February 15, 2010
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SmartGridNews.com 11/13/2009

Smart Grid Fallout: Lessons to Learn from PG&E’s Smart Meter Lawsuit

It is hard to know exactly when the honeymoon ended, whether it was
when Bakersfield.com reported on a customer who found his power usage had tripled during a six-hour blackout, or at the town meeting in Fresno on Oct. 20 became a unanimous indictment of smart metering, or now in November, as a class-action suit has been filed against PG&E, asserting a variety of mistakes and misrepresentations. For those of us who have spent a fair amount of time researching the potential for advances derived from smart metering, these developments are disconcerting.

Some of the Solution Is in the Data
Many of the same constituencies who are actively opposing the smart meter evolution are also very much interested and involved in the promotion of more efficient energy usage and more integration of alternative sources. It is now the responsibility of the utilities to educate their customers about the actual dynamics of power and power pricing, to help them to better understand the choices that they will need to make.

For those utilities who have not yet begun to alter the finances of their customers through higher peak pricing, there is a cautionary tale here. It seems that it might well be worth 3-6 months of reporting on usage, with simulated billing and recommendations for changes, prior to actually instituting those changes. It would better showcase the insight provided by Smart Metering, would provide a sense of empowerment for the users, and would certainly eliminate some of what seems to be a sense of blindsiding on the part of the consumer.
Posted in The Smart Grid Consumer, AMI    Tagged with PGE, AMI


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