Category: Hall of Shame

We agree with San Bruno: Remove CPUC President Peevey

Recently the City of San Bruno released emails showing the illegal relationship between The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).

The City of San Bruno demanded the immediate removal of CPUC President Michael Peevey and substantial penalties against PG&E after it was exposed that top CPUC and PG&E staff engaged in repeated and illegal private conversations in the ongoing CPUC penalty proceeding related to the deadly 2010 PG&E gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno.

“Today’s disclosure demonstrates an ongoing, illicit and illegal relationship between the CPUC and PG&E,” said Mayor Jim Ruane, who released more than 7,000 pages of documents received after San Bruno filed a Public Records Act lawsuit against the CPUC.

ralphBased on our experience with PG&E smart meters and our work at the CPUC, we know this unethical, illicit relationship first hand.  The case against “Ralph Florea” aka Bill Devereaux, the head of PG&E’s smart meter department (who spied on us; circulated private emails to corporate PG&E, the CPUC and others; and sent a spy to photograph our protest) revealed the CPUC and PG&E were discussing our work via emails and held private meetings while our smart meter proceeding was still open.

Emails exchanged between PG&E’s EMF program manager and the CPUC illustrate collusion.  PG&E did not file mandatory exparte legal paperwork. The attached document is redacted by PG&E but you can see the emails are between PG&E and the CPUC.  They are discussing the EMF Safety Network, a conference call, and a letter from the FCC.  See attached: 096SmartMeterInquiry

PG&E created a Technology Advisory Panel (TAP) on smart meters that included members of the CPUC Energy Division, CPUC Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), The Utility Reform Network (TURN), and others, and held meetings at PG&E, but the public was not invited to attend. See one meeting example here: 093SmartMeterInquiry

PG&E trained the CPUC Consumers Affairs Branch (CAB) how to respond to smart meter complaints.  When people called to complain to PG&E about smart meters, then called the CPUC they got the same answer which left customers feeling frustrated and intimidated. See page 281-282

PG&E “Increased frequency of meetings with CAB staff. In addition to regular monthly meetings, met more on as needed basis as Smart Meter concerns began to increase, so CAB staff could provide more accurate and timely responses to customers (2010)”. “PG&E upgraded their phone system to give CAB priority call queue, and provided CAB a Smart Meter Overview to educate and support CAB.”

The EMF Safety Network received many complaints about the CPUC’s response to complaints.  We sent a freedom of information request and asked them “Who tells the Consumer Affairs Branch, and the public advisors office what to tell people who call with complaints about Smart Meters?  Who, or what authority instructs these two divisions on how to respond to ratepayers?”

The CPUC attorney responded with: “Phil Enis, a Program Manager with the Commission’s Consumer Service and Information Division, advises the Consumer Affairs Branch regarding responses to customers with complaints about Smart Meters.  Karen Miller, the Public Advisor, also of the Commission’s Consumer Service and Information Division, advises the Public Advisor’s Office staff regarding responses to customers with complaints about Smart Meters.”

No mention of PG&E’s intimate involvement instructing CAB how to respond to Smart Meter complaints.

Thousands of smart meter complaints and the CPUC has never investigated the health risks of pulsed radiation smart meters. Not once has the issue of smart meter safety been addressed in evidentiary hearings.

The CPUC rubber stamped PG&E’s safety claims, based on a declaration from one PG&E employee.

President Michael R. PeeveyAt the core of the debacle is President Michael Peevey who has been the Commissioner for all the major smart meter proceedings. Remember the reassurances the CPUC gave about how the opt-out proceeding would be completed over a year ago?  Nothing has happened in the proceeding since January of 2013.  The CPUC has filed five delays since last December.

The CPUC is promoting smart meters, they are not regulating the utilities to ensure safe and reliable utility service.

This casual culture is also evidenced by CFEE meetings where CPUC Commissioners and utility representatives meet.  At this meeting Commissioners Nancy Ryan, President Peevey and PG&E’s Bottorff are present. It’s business as usual that former Commissioner Loretta Lynch says is illegal and should not be happening.

  • We support the demands by the City of San Bruno to establish a culture that prioritizes “safety first” at the CPUC.
  • We support the immediate removal of Michael Peevey.
  • We support immediate legislation requiring the removal of any and all CPUC employees who have previously been employed by utilities.
  • We condemn the CPUC for repeated delays in the current smart meter proceedings where fees for opting out are being challenged on the basis of safety and medical needs.
  • We demand the CPUC hold evidentiary hearings on smart meter safety.
PG&E's smart pig Peevey
PG&E’s smart pig Peevey

A cultural change focused on safety first should be the CPUC’s highest priority.  Join San Bruno residents and others and demand the removal of CPUC President Peevey. (Petition now closed)

Tell Governor Brown to remove Michael Peevey too:

SMUD smart meter burn out causes electrical failure & fire hazard

Margie Rothwell was having serious problems with the electricity in her home.  The power turned on and off for no apparent reason. The house fire alarm kept going off and the noises were scaring her dog.

She called her brother, who was a master electrician, to help her.  He found electrical lines not working and the smart meter digital readout was unreadable.  He recommended she call the utility SMUD right away, which she did.  (SMUD stands for Sacramento Municipal Utility District.)

Note: upper right meter base clip is visibly burned
Note: upper right meter base clip is visibly burned

A couple hours later, the SMUD technician came and when he got closer to the smart meter he said he smelled “burn”.

Margie recalled, “He had a very horrified look on his face when he looked at the burnt smart meter and meter socket.” The technician removed the smart meter and quickly put it in his truck, concealing the evidence.

The technician installed a temporary adapter which left her home with only 110 volts and limited power in parts of her house.

She was left with no dryer, no air conditioner, no electricity in the master bedroom, or anything that required 220 volts.

She asked the SMUD technician for a business card. He said he didn’t have one. She asked him for his name and he would not give her his full name.

The SMUD technician told Margie that she was responsible for replacing the damaged meter base, which included hiring a professional electrical contractor and getting a city permit.  Margie asked him if SMUD would fix it. He said no.

She called several electrical professionals to get estimates which ranged from $1,500-$3500.

She then searched the internet for “smart meter problems” and she found out that this is a common problem with smart meters.  In California, fire captain Ross had similar electric problems, as did another fire captain Matt Beckett.  A fire erupted shortly after a PG&E smart meter was installed in Vacaville, California which killed a man.

She contacted the EMF Safety Network director, Sandi Maurer, who connected her to Eric Windheim, EMF Safety consultant, and director of Sacramento Smart Meter Awareness.  Together they helped her write a declaration about the burnt meter and panel, the limited electricity, and her experience with the technician.

Margie sent the declaration and a demand letter to SMUD via certified mail with returned receipt. The following week Eric supported Margie at two SMUD board meetings, where she demanded they pay for the repairs as soon as possible. Margie asked the board, “If SMUD’s smart meter is so smart why didn’t it send SMUD a warning message that there was a very dangerous electrical failure going on at my house? Was SMUD going to wait for the fire department to send you a report in the mail?”

Following the board meetings, Margie:

  •  Kept all communication with SMUD in writing
  •  Refused to risk having another smart meter on her home
  •  Demanded the analog meter as the only replacement
  •  Never agreed or consented to the opt-out extortion fee

The smart meter could have burned down her house, with Margie in it.  Since it caused similar hazards for other customers, she was not going to take that chance ever again.

Analog restoredNine days after she went to the first board meeting SMUD repaired the burnt panel and restored an analog meter.  SMUD paid for all the repairs, and they returned analog meter without Margie’s agreement to pay their opt-out fees of $127 plus $14 a month.

SMUD denied the smart meter was to blame for the electrical problems. The SMUD representative wrote to Margie, “What I can assure you of, is that the damage to your panel was not caused by the Smart Meter.  The origin of the damage was in the meter socket assembly.”

Eric Windheim says, “A Maxim of Law is: “Where damages are given, the losing party should pay the costs of the victor” which is exactly what happened here. Since SMUD is paying for all of this they have admitted causation.  If Margie’s wiring was really at fault SMUD would have charged her for all repair costs.”

Click here for more information on smart meter fires and explosions.  If you are a SMUD customer and have questions about smart meters contact Eric Windheim at 916-395-7336 or contact him here.

CPUC President doesn’t want to answer your g*dd*mn questions, now shut up!

President Michael R. PeeveyThe California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is responsible for protecting utility customers and ensuring safe and reliable utility service.

Michael Peevey, the President of the CPUC,  has been in charge of the decisions regarding smart meters.  He approved wireless smart meters without any safety review.  He approved smart meter opt-out fees without any legal review.

Peevey cussed out an attorney who’s asking questions at a public hearing.

Do you have questions about utility smart meters?  President Peevey can be reached at mp1@cpuc.ca.gov  He doesn’t want to hear from you!

Manager comes unglued at protest of electricity disconnect

Request for fair treatment ignored

A small rural electric utility in Northern California, Plumas Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative (PSREC), has disconnected power to Stop Smart Meters Director Josh Hart and his partner Heidi for refusing to pay fees to keep an analog meter. Within this cooperative other customers are allowed to self read their analog meters, at no additional cost. Because Josh and Heidi refused a smart meter, they are forced to pay more, $300 a year more. They were not given the option to self read their meter.

Josh and Heidi moved to Plumas County to live in a safer environment. They live in an all electric house, and they have been without electricity since February 19, when PSREC cut the power to their home.  In the following video Heidi tells the “cooperative” why she believes the disconnect is unfair and illegal, and how she feels scared, bullied and shocked about how they are being treated.

PSREC general manager Bob Marshall comes unglued as he responds to Heidi’s comments and having the public meeting filmed.  He demands Josh stop filming and threatens to call the sheriff.  Marshall then responds to Heidi’s request for fair treatment saying,“We disagree strongly with everything you said”.  Then he turned the blame on her saying, “we disagree with your bullying…”

You can read more at http://stopsmartmeters.org/2014/02/26/psrec-general-manager-loses-it-after-illegal-disconnect/

Smart meter extortion in Illinois: pay $21.53 a month to delay the inevitable

extortionUtility customers in Illinois can delay smart meter installations on their home by paying $21.53 a month…but eventually everyone will be forced to have a smart meter, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC).

Sky Vision Solutions reports the ICC has ordered ComEd to install new wireless smart meters for all customers over a ten-year period.  “If customers make the decision to refuse a [smart] meter now and incur monthly charges associated with this choice, it should be with full knowledge that this refusal is simply deferring the inevitable,” the ICC said in its order.  Beginning in 2022 the ICC has stated that customers will receive the smart meters regardless of whether they want them or not.

Read more here: http://smartgridawareness.org/2014/02/07/comed-smart-meter-opt-outs/#more-6031

CPUC delays smart meter opt-out proceeding – again

Photo by Isis Feral

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) once again delayed the smart meter opt-out proceeding by another two months, until April 7, 2014.  The opt out proceeding started nearly three years ago, amid a strong customer backlash against the overcharging, privacy snatching, radiation emitting smart meters and demand for the return of the analog meters.

In 2012, customers were ordered to pay extortion fees to retain or restore an analog meter, even though the CPUC never held hearings on the legality of those fees, or investigated the safety complaints.

In 2012, briefs were filed arguing the fees were unlawful, testimony was taken, evidentiary hearings and five public hearings were held.   A second round of briefs, based on the testimony and hearings were filed in January of 2013.  Read the EMF Safety Network’s brief here.

The opt out proceeding is in the hands of CPUC judge Amy Yip-Kikugawa who said she would rule on the legal issues in January of 2013.  A full year later, no rulings or decisions have been issued and the discussion on the right for a community to opt out is still pending.  Nothing has happened for a full year, except delays.

The Commissioner overseeing the proceeding is Michael Peevey who cannot be trusted to care about utility customers when he is personally invested in a “green” technology economy.  Peevey is on the board of The California Clean Energy Fund, a multi-million dollar investment fund created to “spur investment and innovation in California’s clean energy economy.”

“With world-renown research universities and a supportive policy-making climate, California has proven to be a leader in developing clean energy innovations,” said Michael R. Peevey, chairman of CalCEF and president of the California Public Utilities Commission. “CalCEF’s investment strategy to help commercialize these innovations fills an important need in realizing California’s goal of becoming the world’s premier clean energy economy.”

Peevey is also an advisor for the UC Davis Energy Effiency Center, and the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy.

The CPUC states they need more time  on the opt-out proceeding because the issues are complex and require additional time to resolve.

Are you frustrated and fed up with the CPUC’s lack of safety oversight and extortion fees? The California State Auditor conducts investigations into improper governmental activities by state agencies.  They take anonymous complaints from the public and whistle blowers: