PG&E customers can opt out of SmartMeters -- for $75, plus $10 a month

And can I get in contact with such people to sell them bogus solutions to non-existent problems?

...a home with WiFi, carry and talk on a cell phone non stop.....the fee sounds like a nice scam bread in fear.

Basically they would install these things, then the next month the residents would get a bill for 30k or some other insane amount. So as a result a lot of people think they're broken.

Then there's the other issue that they're only installing these to toss people out of their jobs.

According to the article, the objection is over the radio link between the meter and the utility.

But there are legit reasons in addition to the silly ones.

I buy 10 dollars worth of natural gas per month from PGE and they plan to force me to have a 'smart' meter. Who is getting richer? Who is getting laid off?

The point of smart meters is to not have to have someone come by and read the meter.

There's lots of benefits to smart meters too.

Those meter readers were burning a lot of gas, and driving a lot of miles. Not doing that is a good thing for the environment.

Older meters can't run backwards, so solar/wind installations generally required a new meter. Not a huge cost increase when you factor in the cost of buying the panels/turbine, but every bit helps.

Smart meters enable smarter use of power. If you opt-in, and the power company has the infrastructure, they can do things like turn off your A/C if there's a spike in power demand. Thus reducing CO2 from power plants - the power company doesn't need to have as many plants already up and spinning to absorb the spike.

All I get is gas to heat water and cook. They could ask customers to read the meter.

Somebody is making a lot of money off of this.

And I'm not aware of many cities that own their own power plant. Sure, there's a municipal utility, but they're selling someone else's power.

Anyway, yes someone makes a lot of money. The power company saves a lot of money. As I said above. Their saving money also has beneficial environmental effects.

and they stayed up, so it wasn't just "forgetting" to zero the meter.

they want about them, but I like mine. My old one must have been way off.