The California Public Utilities Commission gave a group of 92 thousand customers extra time to decide whether they wanted the meters. Paul Moreno of PG&E says 72 thousand customers either accepted the new meters or didn't respond when given the opportunity.
MORENO: "They can give customers a much better idea of what their own energy usage is. Utilities can also use smart meters to help them restore power outages because we can identify which meters are not receiving power in an area."
The most vocal of the people opposed to the smart meters claim the radio waves used to transmit information could harm a person's health. PG&E says there is no evidence to support such claims.
PG&E has a little more than six million customers. A little more than 21,000 customers opted out of the smart meter program. They will have to pay an extra $75 for installation and an extra $10 dollars per month.