Letter: Keep PG&E at bay

The people of Yuba City and Marysville do not have any immediate and effective protection from PG&E if there is a wrongful billing. Newly installed equipment can, and will, cause outrageous billing if it is defective or the procedure used to interrogate the meter by radio fails in some way. It can happen to anyone of us at any time.

When this does happen, PG&E can shut off the electricity if the bill is not promptly paid. Trying to communicate with PG&E asking it to immediately investigate a billing will prove more than difficult. The utility already has many prepared answers for every billing problem. What our community leaders need to do, at least for now, is to set up a program with the cities' attorneys that can provide a court restraining order against PG&E to prevent electric shut-off when there is reasonable evidence from past usage that the billing is inordinate and not due to current electric consumption.

The purpose is to motivate PG&E into taking the time to investigate carefully every "big" jump in billing when the residents are positive they are not at fault.

Larry Stange

Yuba City