DALLAS — State Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway sent a letter to the Texas Public Utility Commission Wednesday asking it to suspend deployment of "smart" meters until a state investigation into their accuracy is completed.
Hundreds of people have complained across North Texas and in the Houston area alleging abnormally high electricity bills are the result their new digital meters that replaced traditional mechanical units.
"There's no reason why hard-working Texans should be encumbered by high bills for the next three months while they do their testing," said Ree Wattner, founder of Smart Utility Reform Citizens.
That organization, made up of individuals concerned about expensive electric bills, lobbied for the moratorium and has attended PUC meetings pushing for it, too.
The Public Utility Commission turned down State Sen. Troy Fraser's moratorium request last month.
Oncor is installing Smart Meters on thousands of homes and businesses in North Texas. CenterPoint Energy is doing the same in its service area in Houston.
The state's investigation — conducted by Navigant Consulting and paid for by Oncor and CenterPoint — will be complete in June.
Oncor has voluntarily set up multiple tests comparing how the new electric meters read side-by-side with the old ones. To date, Oncor said, those tests have shown no significant discrepancies between the two technologies.
Both Oncor and CenterPoint have had communication errors with several thousand smart meters, but despite the questions and controversy, no proof has ever been established that the devices record usage incorrectly.
E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com
