PG&E Names Advisory Panel to Help Keep Customers Happy During Meter Rollouts

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PG&E's poor customer service during its initial smart meter rollout got the San Francisco-based utility  into a lot of trouble with customers (a class-action lawsuit) and regulators (an audit). The utility apologized for its performance in May, but plans to do a lot more to repair its relationship with customers. PG&E has convened a

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Smart Meter Technical Advisory Panel to review the impact on customers of the utility's metering program and to help it follow best practices while it continues with the meter deployment. PG&E will moderate the panel and participate; additional panelists will include representatives from the Division of Rate Payer Advocates, the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission and engineering and consulting firm EnerNex. A customer from one of PG&E's Customer Advisory Panels also will serve as a member. PG&E has already taken steps to improve customer service, and the panel will help the utility build on them. Some of those steps include: increasing the number of Answer Centers to give customers faster help with their questions and concerns, a dedicated smart meter call center and much-enhanced customer communications programs, including a Web site.

Quick Take: It's unfortunate that PG&E had to learn its customer service lessons the hard way, but this looks like a step in the right direction. Whether the utility's customers will see it that way remains to be seen.

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