An industry group has called off a study of Bakersfield's SmartMeter experience, saying it is satisfied with results of a state-sponsored inquiry that generally exonerated the remote devices last month. In an e-mail, Ed Legge, a representative of the Washington-based electric utility trade group Edison Electric Institute, wrote that a new study of what caused Bakersfield electric bills to shoot up dramatically last summer "was deemed no longer necessary" following the Sept. 1 release of a SmartMeter report ordered by the state Public Utilities Commission, as well as a separate inquiry into the rollout of smart meter technology in Texas. The state commission's report, prepared by Houston-based consulting firm The Structure Group, concluded that complaints about Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s SmartMeter system in Bakersfield had more to do with customer service failings than technological problems. Though it pointed to missteps in how PG&E rolled out the system, overall the study agreed with PG&E's assertion that bills shot up locally primarily because hot weather coincided with hefty rate increases.
In February, the head of the electric institute's nonprofit, the Institute for Electric Efficiency, said she doubted there was anything wrong with PG&E SmartMeters. But she added that her group planned to study the Bakersfield situation in order to quell growing skepticism within the industry over whether technology was to blame for last summer's high bills in Bakersfield.
