After months of denying any technical problems with its SmartMeter program, PG&E publicly detailed a range of glitches Monday affecting tens of thousands of the digital meters.

But the San Francisco-based utility said it had found just eight meters that inaccurately reported a customer’s energy use, despite thousands of complaints from customers who say the new meters have overcharged them. The utility would not say how many of the 5.5 million meters installed so far have been tested for accuracy after installation.

PG&E detailed 43,376 cases in which the meters were involved in other kinds of problems. It said 23,000 meters were installed improperly, 11,376 failed to retain consumer usage information and 9,000 had trouble connecting with the wireless network.

“No technology is infallible. No technology is completely immune to human error. And, to my knowledge, no one at PG&E has made such a claim,” Helen Burt, PG&E senior vice president and chief customer officer, said in prepared remarks before a California Senate hearing Monday. “Last fall, when we said ‘the meters work,’ we meant it. They do. But that doesn’t mean that every single one of them works 100 percent of the time.”

A PG&E spokesman said “a few” customers received bills that did not reflect their actual energy usage, but declined to be more specific. He urged any customers who have concerns about their electric usage or bills to call PG&E directly.

But state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Fresno, said Monday that he thinks thousands of consumers may have received inaccurate bills.

“We need to know how many meters failed, and how many meters failed to transmit data, and we’re finally beginning to get some answers,” Florez said. “But if all of these various parts aren’t working, then the bills aren’t accurate. Why not own up to the fact?”

Utilities across the country are replacing analog meters with digital meters that can be read remotely. As more features are added, the so-called smart meters will be able to give consumers detailed information about their power use, from how much energy their appliances draw to consumer electric usage by the hour and day.

PG&E, which provides gas and electric service to customers from Eureka to Bakersfield, was the first major utility to aggressively adopt the technology and is installing about 12,000 SmartMeters a day, with the goal of having 10 million in place by the end of 2012.

But the rollout has been far from smooth. Hundreds of PG&E customers who already have SmartMeters have complained of skyrocketing electric bills, leading to widespread suspicions that the meters either malfunction or are used to intentionally overcharge.

In November, a PG&E spokesman told the Mercury News that “the meters themselves are completely accurate” and noted that customers in Bakersfield and elsewhere were noticing higher bills because of rate increases and the heavy use of air conditioning during the sweltering summer months.

Monday’s remarks mark the first time that PG&E has publicly acknowledged technology problems.

“Up until now, PG&E’s basic message has been ‘We are 100 percent right, and our customers are 100 percent wrong,’ ” said Mark Toney, executive director of consumer advocacy group TURN, The Utility Reform Network. “Today they acknowledged some widespread technology problems, which is what they should have done in the first place.”

The flood of consumer complaints led the California Public Utilities Commission to hire the Structure Group of Houston to conduct a long-awaited independent evaluation of PG&E’s SmartMeters. Under its $1.4 million contract, which is expected to be completed in August, Structure will analyze individual customer complaints, initially focusing on those from the San Joaquin Valley.

Two vendors provide the meters for PG&E: Landis+Gyr, based in Zug, Switzerland, and General Electric. Redwood City-based Silver Spring Networks provides the communications software for the meters.

Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.