Anyone else dealing with Portland General Electric's smart meter installation chaos? Three of my commercial clients have been on estimated bills for 2+ months while PGE installs new AMI meters. The estimates are terrible - one restaurant got a $3,400 bill that should have been around $1,800 based on their schedule T usage. PGE keeps saying the new meters will "automatically correct" but I'm not confident. Should I be demanding manual reads in the interim?
PGE Portland - Estimated bills during smart meter rollout
Wendy, we're seeing similar issues here in Denver with Xcel's AMI rollout. The transition period estimates are notoriously bad. I'd definitely request interim actual reads, especially for your larger commercial accounts. The small additional cost is worth it to avoid massive true-up bills later.
Similar experience with CPS Energy in San Antonio during their smart meter deployment. The key is getting written confirmation from PGE about how they'll handle any overcharges once actual data comes online. Don't just trust that it will "automatically correct" - get it in writing that they'll credit any overpayments with interest.
Here in Seattle we went through this with City Light a few years back. The "automatic correction" usually works for residential but commercial accounts often need manual review. Push for actual reads on your bigger accounts - PGE has to provide them if requested during the transition period.