BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Following a contentious 5-hour hearing in Bakersfield and a barrage of letters full of unanswered questions, Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) will convene a hearing of a major utility and the regulatory body that pushed forward the company’s implementation of SmartMeters, technology that has so far failed to deliver promised savings to consumers, Dean Florez said in a press release.

SmartMeters were implemented to give consumers real-time information on their energy usage, so they can make adjustments to save on their bills, but the technology to allow the sort of communication needed to achieve that will not be in place for years, Florez said in a press release.

Read Florez's Letter

Florez stated that so far, only the utility itself seems to be saving -- eliminating the labor costs of manually reading older meters -- as many consumers say their bills have increased dramatically despite cutting back on energy consumption.

The Oct. 5 Bakersfield hearing heard public comments from dozens of residents who have seen their bills double – even triple, or worse – since the installation of a SmartMeter, including anecdotal evidence of people who were forced to move due to the expense, Florez stated.

PG&E has blamed the spike on summer heat, but much of the increase has come from multiple rate hikes approved readily by the Public Utilities Commission, much of that to pay for the new meters, Florez stated.

Despite evidence of billing anomalies, such as peaks in usage for a vacant house, Florez stated that PG&E has only tested 50 of the 250,000 meters installed in Kern County.

Florez wants to give Fresno residents the same opportunity to present their concerns to PG&E and the CPUC, while having those bodies address questions remaining unanswered from the previous hearing.

Florez said he has called on the CPUC to place a moratorium on Smart Meter installations and additional rate increases until an independent technology expert can verify the accuracy of the new meters.

He has also called for testing and monitoring of a representative sample of those meters already installed, in addition to the formation of a Citizens’ Oversight Committee to review complaints.

Florez said he has also asked PG&E to investigate and resolve the concerns of hearing participants, with written follow-up on those outcomes.

In a follow-up letter, Florez detailed questions he will want answered and further asked the utility to lay out how it plans to distribute more than $400 million in overcharges due to an overestimation of natural gas prices for this year.