Just as happened in the Central Valley months earlier, PG&E’s rollout of Smart- Meters in the Bay Area has generated a flurry of complaints from consumers of unusual spikes in bills and concern that the meters are malfunctioning and over-reading electricity usage.

PG&E is installing 10 million SmartMeters on homes and businesses throughout California. This summer, hundreds of consumers in Bakersfield complained of skyrocketing electricity bills after SmartMeters were installed.

Now, as the rollout of SmartMeters gets under way in the Bay Area, similar concerns are being reported; more than 30 consumers contacted the Mercury News after a report on the rollout appeared last week.

Jorg Aadahl of San Mateo says his September bill showed a 24 percent spike in kilowatt-hours used compared with the same month last year. And in October, his usage was 14 percent higher than average when compared with Octobers over the previous decade.

“I am very concerned about the accuracy of the new electric SmartMeter,” Aadahl said. “I have been keeping track of energy usage for many years, so I have a solid base for comparison. We are a senior couple with no substantial change in consumption profile.”

PG&E insists there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the SmartMeters, but acknowledges receiving hundreds of complaints.

“We have investigated hundreds of bill complaints where customers felt higher bills were due to the SmartMeter meters, but in each case the meters are performing accurately,” PG&E spokesman Matt Nauman said Monday. “Bills have been higher for a variety of reasons: rate hikes, increased usage due to weather, changes in lifestyle, aging appliances that draw more power, house guests.”

Nauman said Monday that PG&E would be “happy” to field test individual meters for accuracy upon customer request, and customers should call PG&E directly if they have any questions or concerns.

But some consumers are not convinced.

San Jose resident Ron Adib, who lives in Almaden, says his monthly bill rose by $30 after he got a Smart- Meter six or seven weeks ago.

“This is the time of year when we use the least amount of power,” Adib said. “It’s not hot, it’s not cold, we are not running the air conditioning or the heat. But the bill showed that our usage went up. I don’t think the meters are working. I have called PG&E and they said ‘No, no, no, there’s no such problem.’ “

Michelle Rush-Browne lives in Knightsen, near Brentwood. She and her family have a propane tank for gas; their electric bill is about $400 a month. But after a SmartMeter was installed three months ago, Rush-Browne went for a few months without getting any kind of bill. When it finally arrived, it was for $4,000. A technician came to check out the meter; then PG&E swapped out the meter and installed a new one.

SmartMeters are designed to be read remotely; PG&E says it’s almost like adding a GPS system to your car. A small radio, similar to a cell phone, on the meter transmits usage data to a “data collector,” which then sends it to PG&E via a secure wireless network.

As more features are added, the devices will be able to tell consumers how much power their refrigerator or other household appliances use. The hope is that consumers will be inspired to conserve more energy once they are armed with more detailed information about their household energy use; that in turn should decrease the overall demand on the power grid.

Michael Kelley, a Los Angeles trial lawyer, is representing one Bakersfield resident who saw his $200-a-month bill rise to nearly $600 after he got a SmartMeter. Kelley has been flooded with calls from other consumers hoping to be included as plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit.

“You have people who are retired and living on a fixed income, and they always pay their bills. All of a sudden their energy bill is twice their mortgage, and now they are in danger of losing their home,” said Kelley. “There must be some glitch in the system that is either not accurately transmitting the information, or is double counting it. All of these people can’t be wrong.”

Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706.