DALLAS — After Oncor Electric Delivery has already deployed 760,000 advanced digital electric meters, better known as "smart meters," a state official is now calling on the Texas Public Utility Commission to suspend further installations until an independent third party test can be conducted to settle questions about expensive bills some customers have received.
State Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Killeen) sent a letter to the PUC on Tuesday officially making the request. Commissioners will consider it at Thursday morning's meeting in Austin.
The utility said it's a good idea.
"Oncor fully supports independent third party testing of a significant sample, because we want to rebuild that public trust," said company spokeswoman Catherine Cuellar. "Based on our experience, [we] have no reason to doubt the [meter's] accuracy."
Still, for Lisa Smith and Jennifer Stanfield, electricity is a sore subject.
"Yeah, yeah a little bit," Smith chuckled.
What isn't funny is their December electric bill: more than $1,000.
"To pay for these bills, I'm cutting out any kind of social life I have," Stanfield said. "Not eating out; not going out and meeting friends after work."
Even with new energy efficient windows and a thermostat set at 56 degrees, their January bill still topped $800. High bills, the two said, didn't happen until Oncor replaced their mechanical meter with a digital one.
"We've got people with their electricity being cut off -- being bullied -- and that's not right," said Ree Wattner, who organized a group of dozens of neighbors. They've already met twice trying to find a remedy to the high bills they suspect the smart meters caused.
Wattner even started a Web site for her Smart Utility Reform Citizens group and said she is preparing a petition to the PUC.
But Oncor said it has found fewer than 10 of its 760,000 advanced meters with problems after random tests.
The utility blames the cold winter for big bills. Data from the National Weather Service confirms that December 2009 was colder than the previous four years.
But state records show the Texas Public Utility Commission refused to do a cost-benefit study two years ago -- even after cities and others asked for it.
Plus, CenterPoint Energy, Oncor's counterpart in Houston, just removed 3,002 smart meters because software failures prevented them from being read remotely, according to records the utility filed with the PUC.
The devices are at the center of a class-action lawsuit in California after residents there received big bills, too.
Oncor CEO Bob Shapard flew to Austin to answer questions at Thursday's PUC meeting.
He is expected to explain a number of things his company is doing -- including side-by-side tests with both old meters and new ones recording usage starting Friday in an effort to recapture public trust.
E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com
