Pacific Gas & Electric is fighting a motion at the California Public Utilities Commission requiring it to keep some of the analog meters the utility’s been replacing with digital meters. “There is no need to incur the substantial costs associated with retaining and storing analog meters,” PG&E argued in an Oct. 18 filing. Wilner & Associates asked the commission for an emergency order to stop PG&E’s disposal of the old meters. For customers who opt out of their “smart” meter installations, the old meters are better refurbished than turned to rubbish, Wilner maintains. “PG&E estimates that there will be approximately 140,000 customers requesting the opt-out option, so PG&E’s existing inventory of analog meters along with those available from firms that recondition them will be more than sufficient to meet opt-out needs,” according to Wilner. Rather than installing analog meters for those who do not want “smart” meters, PG&E maintains that it is more economically viable to turn off the radio communications in the digital meters. The request comes after the commission May 5 granted PG&E a 6.3 percent rate of return on investment for the removed analog meters based on their remaining depreciation schedule.
