Utility Shut-offs Up 75% in CA

by Leigh Graham · 2009-11-23 05:00:00 UTC
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blackout75% more low-income customers of Pacific Gas & Electric have had their utilities shut off for non-payment this year compared to 2008. That alarmingly high number is in sharp contrast to utility shut-offs statewide, which sadly have risen more than one quarter. Why so many more PG&E customers? In no particular order:

  1. Rate hikes.

  2. Recession.

  3. Technological "innovation."

Wait a minute! Isn't technology supposed to make things cheaper? (Generally speaking.) Turns out that PG&E has been switching to wireless SmartMeters, which allows the company to shut off utilities remotely, instead of having to send out an electrician. Oy.

PG&E, of course, can't confirm whether or not the SmartMeters are the problem, but utility shut-offs are up 40% among all their customers, which seems like a coincident trend they might want to examine.  Says consumer advocates who want the government to step in, given the current economy:

The old way of shutting off customers - scheduling an electrician to visit a home - cost the company money.

"That gave the company an incentive to negotiate with people," Toney said. "With SmartMeters, you eliminate that cost. You take away that incentive for utilities to negotiate with customers."

Yep, and I'd say removing that ability for us to plead our case or explain our situations is overly harsh; people seem to forget how much "street-level bureaucrats" actually control the policies and laws that impact our lives. Removing that human interface always seems like the right thing to do in terms of efficiencies and costs, but frequently, especially in the high-touch environment of public policy, we find that trying to do so turns out to be a costly mistake.

PG&E's SmartMeters have received a lot of complaints, but undoing technology upgrades of this extent is expensive. As they hopefully move to address this issue, I hope they'll also have sympathy on struggling families during this holiday season. (Though the commenters to the original article, no doubt, disagree.)

(Photo "Who turned out the lights?" by aussiegall)

Leigh Graham
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