Utilities face limits on how much they can charge customers who opt out of smart meters under a California Public Utilities Commission decision adopted Dec. 18. It authorizes recovery of “actual costs” from those who opt out, but only up to a point. The commission’s decision, however, results in no immediate change in what those who chose not to have a wireless two-way meter actually pay for either retaining their old meters or having new digital devices replaced with analog instruments. But, it limits the applicability of the fees to a three-year period going forward. Anti-smart meter activists were not pleased. “Being coerced to pay to protect the safety, health and privacy of your family amounts to extortion,” said Sandi Maurer, director of the EMF Safety Network, summing up the views of smart meter opponents. However, outgoing CPUC President Mike Peevey noted that after three years any costs utilities don’t recover through the fees will be covered by ratepayers in general, rather than solely by those ratepayers who opt out. Commissioner Mike Florio called it a needed “compromise.” Under the commission’s decision, customers will continue to pay an upfront charge of $75 and then a monthly $10 fee for meter reading. Low-income customers are to pay $10 initially and then a $5 monthly fee. The commission adopted the decision after a protest on its front steps by anti-smart meter activists and testimony by many of them concerning the potential health threats posed by the radio frequencies emitted by smart meters, as well as privacy concerns. The meters, for instance, can indicate whether or not a house is occupied at a given time by tracking power usage in small increments and even show what types of appliances are being used in homes. The commission acted after it became apparent that utilities had over-estimated how many people would opt-out when the commission first allowed customers to get the meter of their choice in 2012. So far, only 54,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers have chosen to opt out, 22,000 Southern California Edison customers, and 2,600 SDG&E customers, which combined is less than a half percent of ratepayers. Based on concern this might have changed whether utilities were charging too much for opting out—or too little—the commission reviewed the charges and made some refinements to how the money is accounted for and managed. For instance, this week’s decision requires the utilities to park the fees in balancing accounts that can be trued up periodically. It also seeks to cut costs by allowing utilities to estimate power usage for those choosing analog meters every other month and sending a meter reader only on alternate months instead of monthly. Finally, the decision caps the amount of money utilities can recover from those who opt out as follows: • Pacific Gas & Electric at $35.3 million; • Southern California Edison at $20.5 million; • San Diego Gas & Electric at $1.4 million; and • Southern California Gas at $4.5 million.