San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 24, 2013 - With the announcement last week by Pacific Gas & Electric of its Home and Business Area Networking program, all three of the California IOUs now offer home area networking connectivity.

This follows the development of a HAN device validation program late last year, following a directive from the California Public Utilities Commission to the IOUs to begin making the HAN functionality of their smart meters accessible to customers on a consistent statewide basis and to enable a third party HAN retail market.

Under the directive the IOUs were to begin accepting HAN activation requests from customers by January 15.

San Diego Gas & Electric issued a press release on its program at its start two weeks ago, but PG&E and Southern California Edison’s (SCE) programs have been launched with little apparent fanfare.

To date SDG&E lists three devices that have been validated for compatibility, Energy Aware Technology’s Power TabMkIIand Rainforest Automation’s in-home displays.

PGE’s validation list includes the Aztech in-home display, Rainforest’s Eagle gateway, and Comverge’s PowerTab in-home display.

SCE’s list also includes the Aztech and Rainforest in-home displays, as well as an ecobee thermostat and ADT Pulse gateway.

According to the PUC directive the three IOUs were directed to have an education program in place by December 15 on HAN functionality and how to use it, so the uptake by customers will be of interest to review.