Consumers say 'smart meters' raise bills

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) -- Consumers across the United States say they want installation of so-called smart meters to go slow, saying the devices are raising, not lowering, their bills.

States across the country have been tinkering with smart utility use meters on a pilot basis for the several years, but only recently have allowed utilities to roll them out en masse, Stateline.org reported. When he signed his economic stimulus package into law last year, President Barack Obama hailed smart meters as a way to lower energy bills, reduce the likelihood of power outages and make it easier to use clean energy.

However, individual and class-action lawsuits have been filed against utilities in California and Texas, alleging the meters aren't reliable and produced higher utility bills for customers. California regulators undertook an investigation into the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. after consumers in Bakersfield said that their utility bills rose about the time the utility installed smart meters.

One reason consumers may be seeing a spike in their utility bills may be because the digital smart meter is more accurate than the conventional analog meter, said Katherine Hamilton, president of GridWise Alliance, a coalition of technology companies and utilities.

"Analog meters degrade and slow down over time," she says. "Immediately, when you put in a digital meter, the reading will become more accurate."

Consumers with the more high-tech meters may have false expectations that they'll see lower utility bills just by installing the devices, Hamilton said.

"A meter in the wall doesn't save money itself," she says. "It isn't smart unless the consumer is actively engaged in it."