I'm guessing PG&E's not looking to pass along savings 

So PG&E says that they will allow people to opt out of their SmartMeter program (SmartMeter opt-out plan is here,” March 31), but they want to charge us hundreds of dollars in addition to a substantial ongoing fee added to each bill to do so.

Hmmm, so tell me how that's a real option? Sounds to me more like punishment and economic blackmail handed down from some angry CEO to try to "persuade" most people to forget those nagging health and other concerns surrounding these meters. Since one of the reasons people are against it is because of (verified) suddenly inflating electric bills after installation, it looks like one way or the other PG&E is going to get more money from us.

What if everyone wanted to opt out? Would all of our rates suddenly jump even though we'd be doing nothing different energy usage wise?

They say the fees would be to pay for those few meter readers who they retain. But in fact they are going to be saving A LOT of money by firing most of those people, right? So why not use some of that money to pay for those MRs they retain?

By their reasoning, since it costs so much extra to employ those people, then they should be planning to pass on the savings to those who don't opt out, right?

Somehow though, I suspect that that's not the idea.