A Rough Rollout for Smart Meters in Texas

CenterPoint Energy The road is getting bumpy as Texans become acquainted with so-called “smart” electric meters.

So-called smart electric meters, heralded as vital for an energy-conscious era, are having a rough rollout in Texas.

The devices, which enable utilities to vary their rates according to the time of day, allow consumers to save money — in theory. But according to The Dallas Morning News, hundreds of Texas customers have called to complain that the meters, which are being installed by a Dallas-based electric company called Oncor, are inaccurately raising their electric bills.

A town hall-style meeting was held on the issue last Sunday in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and drew a number of anxious residents. The anti-smart meter crowd has also posted an online petition, calling for a moratorium on installations until the concerns are resolved.

A Texas lawmaker has gotten involved: Troy Fraser, a state senator, called on Texas’s Public Utility Commission to suspend the introduction of smart meters. The regulators, meeting last week, declined to halt the installations, but did commit to bringing in an outside company to check the accuracy of smart meters put in by Oncor and Centerpoint Energy, which has been installing the devices in the Houston area.

In a letter to the commission before last week’s meeting, Bob Shapard, Oncor’s chairman and chief executive, acknowledged receiving several hundred complaint calls, especially in the Temple-Killeen area (which is between Dallas and San Antonio). From the letter:

Our research and one-on-one conversations with these electric customers indicate that, in nearly every case, the factors driving higher electric bills in the Killeen-Temple area are extreme winter temperatures and inefficient electric heating sources.

In other words, unusually cold weather — which makes electric heating systems work harder — was a key reason for the higher bills.

But several homeowners told The Dallas Morning News that that their bills were unusually high, even when the weather was taken into account. Oncor has said it is looking into customer complaints, and Mr. Shapard, in his letter, outlined a number of ways his company was prepared to work with regulators to resolve the issue.

The troubles in Texas are reminiscent of similar problems in California. There, Pacific Gas & Electric, the major Northern California utility, has been installing millions of smart meters — only to encounter concerns about their accuracy.

In Bakersfield, the complaints were particularly vociferous because electric bills soared last summer right after smart meters were installed. P.G.&E. blamed a scheduled rate increase, coupled with a bout of unusually hot weather (which gave air-conditioners a workout).

Under pressure from a state senator, California’s Public Utilities Commission has just said that it will appoint an independent consultant later this week to look into the meters’ accuracy, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

E-mail This Print ShareCloseLinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMy SpacePermalink Commerce, Consumers, Conventional Energy, Energy Business, General Business, Government Policy, conservation, oncor, pacific gas and electric, smart meters, Texas Related Posts From Green Inc. From Smart Meters to Smart ThermostatsGoogle Rolls Out Home Energy SoftwareSetting Wind Power Records in TexasA Utility Will Help Homeowners Go SolarThe Dawn of Plug-In Priuses and Smart Meters From Around the WebEnvironmental and Urban EconomicsOld School vs. New School: The Case of the Smart Grid and Real Time Electricity MeteringLos Angeles TimesBattle heats up over Southern California Gas smart meter proposalThe GuardianWill smart meters help reduce energy bills?Seeking AlphaWill Surging Smart Grid Investment Result in Surging Electric Prices?What's This?

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