Willits Man Refuses Fees to Keep His Analog Meter– Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Threatens to Cut Power Today

Tom DeMarchi of Willits, CA refuses to submit to PG&E’s extortion

Stop Smart Meters! and the EMF safety Network collaborated on this coverage.

MENDOCINO COUNTY, CA- Despite the fact that the fees for keeping analog utility meters are still under legal dispute at the CPUC, and serious smart meter safety problems remain unaddressed, PG&E is now threatening to terminate service to its customers who refuse both smart meters and the contested fees.

Tom DeMarchi, a 68 year old Willits resident, has been told by PG&E that he must pay over $100 to retain his analog meter, or else he will have his electricity terminated today. Tom lives in an all-electric house, and although it’s a physical and financial hardship to have the electricity cut off, Tom is willing to live without it rather than submit to PG&E’s extortion fees.

Tom would prefer not to fight with PG&E. He is an environmentalist who pays his bills on time and has reduced his electric usage. He’s willing to self-read his analog meter, still an accepted practice in some areas where meter access is restricted.  However Tom refuses to pay a fee for nothing. He says,

“This is like the Mafia, extortion by crime bosses- Give us money and nothing bad will happen to you. This is wrong, and I am refusing to pay.”

PG&E is forcing customers to pay $75 initially and $10 a month to keep the analog meters, even though the fees are arbitrary and not based on any evaluation of costs. The cost issue is currently under evaluation at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and should be resolved by the spring of 2013.

One key question being evaluated by the CPUC is whether the fees violate section 453(b) of the Public Utility Code, which states: “No public utility shall prejudice, disadvantage, or require different rates or deposit amounts from a person because of ancestry, medical condition, marital status or change in marital status, occupation, or any characteristic listed or defined in Section 11135 of the Government Code.” The CPUC is also evaluating whether the fees violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Sandi Maurer, Director of the EMF Safety Network says that customers should not be charged to have analog utility meters. EMF sensitivity is widely recognized by medical and scientific experts, and is both caused and exacerbated by EMF and wireless radiation. According to Maurer:

“The CPUC and PG&E are failing their statutory obligation to ensure safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates. The punitive fees are a desperate attempt to intimidate customers into keeping smart meters.”

Joshua Hart, Director of Stop Smart Meters! says that PG&E is going too far, risking alienating the public by cutting off services to bill-paying customers, when any proposed fee has not even been finalized by regulators:

“Arbitrarily cutting off power to our senior citizens just as winter approaches should not be taken lightly. PG&E has jeopardized people’s safety before and they are doing it again.”

Smart meter fires and explosions have been widely reported including several within PG&E territory.  In August, a series of 26 smart meter fires in Pennsylvania forced PECO Energy to halt installations, sparking inquiries in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Illinois.  Yet the CPUC has simply not investigated these fires, nor the thousands of complaints of health problems reported to them by members of the public.

It is unclear upon what legal grounds PG&E is terminating service for those refusing to pay the punitive fees.  Last year PG&E backed down under public pressure after terminating utility service to women and families who had their smart meters removed and restored with analogs.

This entry was posted in California, Citizen rebellion, CPUC, Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity, health effects, legal issues, Mendocino County, PG&E, Safety. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Willits Man Refuses Fees to Keep His Analog Meter– Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Threatens to Cut Power Today

  1. Ron says:

    Another key question not being evaluated by the PUC is whether the fees violate Section 745 (d) (1) of the Public Utility Code, which reads:

    “Residential customers have the option to not receive service pursuant to time-variant pricing and incur no additional charges as a result of the exercise of that option. Prohibited charges include, but are not limited to, administrative fees for switching away from time-variant pricing, . . .”

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      Good point Ron,
      But that may be the PUC code now, but maybe the code will will change in November of this year when the utility (PG&E) is allowed to do a mandatory experiment on customers who have allowed SmartMeters for a two year test of time-variant pricing. Right now, the program is voluntary.
      This is just hearsay, but a PG&E employee (who has since been fired) told me that he attended a meeting with PG&E officials where they explained (boasted) how the new time- variant pricing will enable the utility to jack up their electric rates up to $1.00 per kilowatt/hour (or even more) on customers that get suckered into TVP.
      There are two prime directives with the SmartMeter-radio SmartGrid project, the first one is to eliminate most of the meter readers ( and those that are left will have to work mandatory overtime) to read all the customers (like myself) that never opted into the SmartMeter program at all.
      The second most importand directive is to further enhance profits by a time-variant pricing scheme.
      I agree, the $75 one time fee is extortion, and hopefully that will be rescinded eventually, but if a customer does not want to see their rates jacked up during day, I recommend that paying the fee will instantly save most people money starting next month, and hopefully the good activists will prevail in the end and we will get our $75 opt out fee back.
      Unfortunately, this a game, a corporate game, and I don’t play games, I am NOT a team player. RESIST !

  2. Mark says:

    At Southern California Edison, we don’t have TVP, however they are calculating your bill daily, which will throw you into higher tiered rates on a day to day basis. See my full explanation at http://www.cruisincondo.blogspot.com.

  3. Pingback: Willits Man Refuses Fees to Keep His Analog Meter– Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Threatens to Cut Power Today | Barking Window™

  4. Ed Varney says:

    I think that tiered rates for electricity discriminate again those who heat with electricity. There is no way that such a home can consume within the first tier. The result is that I see a lot more people burning wood and adding all that carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Remember – The Law of Unintended Results.

    • Ed- Keep in mind that while most electricity is generated by coal, oil, and gas that does increase the total greenhouse gas content of our atmosphere, the wood that you burn in your stove or fireplace has absorbed carbon out of the atmosphere during the life of the tree. Not so great for urban air quality, and we certainly don’t want to clearcut forests for “renewable power” but wood and trees are a part of the carbon cycle, while digging up coal and burning it is introducing carbon into the air that has not been part of the cycle for millions of years. We’ve seen the kind of future our utilities are leaving us watching Hurricane Sandy.

  5. Pingback: How to Resist the Fees (and Keep the Power On) | Stop Smart Meters!

  6. Pingback: PG&E Buries Opt Out Fees in Bills; Adds Questionable Tax | Stop Smart Meters!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.