Congress Wants To Cut Your Electric Bill
Brian Wingfield, 05.04.07, 6:00 AM ET
Forbes.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. - What if you could log on to your electric company's Web site to find out when power is cheapest so you could can plan your energy use accordingly?
That day might not be so far off. In some parts of the country, utilities have already begun to install so-called "smart meters" in people's homes. These devices record your energy use in frequent intervals (sometimes every 15 minutes), letting you know when you're using the most expensive electricity.
Smart metering is part of an increasingly popular trend in energy efficiency called "demand response" in which customers voluntarily cut back on their power consumption during times of highest electricity demand, like the hottest days of summer, when air conditioners are running at full blast.
Now lawmakers on Capitol Hill are looking to take this technology a step further in an effort to develop a "smart" electric grid for the entire country. This would help consumers save on their energy use, reduce the number of new power plants that need to be built, and provide more accurate information to grid operators about how to allocate electricity use.
A House of Representatives subcommittee chaired by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., met Thursday to consider ways to implement a smart grid. Boucher hopes to use some of the committee's findings to help craft a new energy bill within the coming weeks.
In the U.S., California is unquestionably leading the way in smart meter installation. Within the last year, state regulators have approved smart meter programs for PG&E (nyse: PCG - news - people ) subsidiary Pacific Gas & Electric (amex: PCG.PR.A - news - people ) and San Diego Gas & Electric (amex: SDO.PR.A - news - people ), an affiliate of Sempra Energy (nyse: SRE - news - people ). Southern California Edison (amex: SCE.PR.B - news - people ) is also pioneering a new type of technology that will allow remote activation of smart meters. The company is awaiting approval from California regulators for the project.
Last year, Pepco Holdings (otcbb: PMLCP.OB - news - people ) announced a two-year pilot program for smart meters, which will give customers several different pricing options. And earlier this week, Constellation Energy Group (nyse: CEG - news - people ) said Maryland regulators have given the green light to a smart meter pilot for its subsidiary Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
"A high-tech world can no longer afford a low-tech electricity grid," says Edison International (nyse: EIX - news - people ) Chairman John Bryson, who testified before the subcommittee Thursday. Because electronic equipment is increasingly sophisticated, standard meters--and the people who read them--are becoming obsolete. "Old power-delivery technologies are no longer good enough," he says.
Critics have argued that utilities are fleecing customers by ultimately charging them for the installation of smart meters, which can easily run $100 or more per household. And make no mistake, outfitting an entire customer base with state-of-the art technology is not cheap. For example, Southern California Edison plans to invest $1.2 billion in its smart meter project over the next several years. Pacific Gas & Electric will spend $1.7 billion to upgrade and install new meters between now and 2011.
But the benefits of such a program seem to outweigh the costs. In a "smart" grid, the meters allow the various information points to "talk" to each other, providing more transparent information to everyone connected to the grid. Because a consumer would be able to see when electricity prices are cheapest, he could decide that, say, 10 a.m. is the best time to do a load of laundry. Pricing information aside, utilities and grid operators could more accurately pinpoint the location of a problem in the electrical network--eliminating the need for repair crews to scramble for hours to determine where a power failure has occurred.
So why isn't everyone installing smart meters in homes and businesses? At the federal level, Congress doesn't have the power to mandate a nationwide smart metering program, and many states don't have the programs or the political will to foster such programs. And because the public is largely uneducated on smart metering and energy price fluctuations, there hasn't been much of a demand, says Robert Lieberman of the Illinois Commerce Commission.
"No one's going, 'Damn, I want one of those meters,' " he says.
Additionally, utilities and regulators are challenged with simultaneously putting in place metering programs and time-based prices, says Dan Delurey, executive director of the Demand Response and Advanced Metering Coalition here.
So what is Congress to do? Experts testifying Thursday encouraged lawmakers to provide financial incentives to utilities and states to encourage smart metering programs. They also stressed the need for standardization of the smart grid components, to avoid a patchwork of technologies across the country.
Although the country continues to grapple with rising oil prices and experiments with expensive ways to clean up coal, energy consumption can be significantly reduced through energy efficiency. That's why it's important for Congress to get right the implementation of a smart grid the first time around.
As Brad Gammons, vice president of IBM's (nyse: IBM - news - people ) global energy and utility industry, told the subcommittee, "It will literally bring power to the people."
Friday, May 04, 2007
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I am a utility executive in Ontario, Canada responsible for Smart metering. Several AMI technologies are currently being rolled out, but BPL (or any other form of powerline carrier) is not among them, other than one small BPL demonstration pilot. Wireless mesh and wireless point-to-point seem to be the preferred technologies here.
ReplyDeleteEdison Int'l Chairman Tells Congressional Subcommittee Smart Grid Technologies Could Help Prevent Cascading Regional Blackouts
ReplyDeleteThursday May 3, 11:33 am ET
Energy Executive Connects Emerging Grid Technologies to the National Effort to Protect the Environment
ROSEMEAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, Edison International (NYSE:EIX - News) Chairman John E. Bryson today predicted a new grid management technology pioneered by the company's utility, Southern California Edison (SCE), could one day help prevent regional power blackouts such as the Northeast blackout of August 2003 that affected 50 million utility customers in eight states and Canada.
"Our company is leading the development of a sophisticated new technology called Synchronous Phasor Measurement that measures stress on utility transmission grids," said Bryson. "As we combine this advanced monitoring system with new digital control technologies we expect to be able to identify and help halt most potential cascading blackouts."
Calling some current U.S. grid components "dinosaurs," Bryson urged legislators to support substantial new utility investments in "smarter" transmission and distribution technologies.
"A high-tech world can no longer afford a low-tech electricity grid," said Bryson. "Together we must build the smart electricity grid of the future."
Bryson told the committee that because many distribution grids - the networks that carry power to homes and businesses - are both expanding and aging, utilities like SCE are investing at record levels. He cautioned, however, against investing in the same old circuit designs and components.
"Even momentary interruptions can now cause significant economic loss for business customers due to the increasing sophistication of their equipment," said Bryson. "And residential customers are using more advanced digital home electronics resulting in higher expectations of service from their local utility. Old power delivery technologies are no longer good enough."
Bryson identified advanced metering as one of the most important examples of the need and opportunity to move the industry's distribution grid into the 21st Century. He stated Edison International, along with a number of other utilities, has been working with the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee on new tax policies that better reflect the nature of investing in the new generation of high technology equipment.
"We will invest $1.2 billion equipping every household and small business we serve with a state-of-the-art, 'smart,' all-digital electricity meter that will be a small, powerful computer and communication system," said Bryson. "Among the benefits will be time-of-use pricing options that will create incentives for customers to save money by shifting some of their use to off-peak hours when electricity costs are lower."
Bryson estimated that such options could reduce peak demand by as much as 1,000 megawatts, the output of an entire large power plant, with the related customer cost and environmental benefits. He reported that peak consumption is a key factor in determining generating capacity requirements and customer costs, so managing peak demand is essential to controlling the need to build expensive new power plants.
Once the new metering technology is deployed, Bryson predicted it would be common to see household devices labeled "communicating" - dishwashers, electric dryers, refrigerators and pool pumps that can "talk" to the new smart meters, automatically adjusting usage, at customers' direction, when power costs rise.
Bryson informed energy committee members that a smarter grid also will improve basic services. New technologies will enable faster outage response. Because of advanced meters, dispatchers will know immediately when and where outages occur, allowing utility crews to respond more quickly. Additionally, SCE's advanced meter will include a service switch that will allow the utility to remotely activate a customer's new service, making more convenient a service requested annually by more than one million SCE customers.
Bryson connected the technology transformation he sees occurring within the electricity sector with the national effort to reduce emissions and protect the environment. He reported smart grid technologies will help reduce peak consumption and power generation, make it easier for utilities to integrate intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and support the emergence of cleaner electric transportation fuel, reducing the nation's petroleum consumption.
Rosemead, Calif.-based Edison International (NYSE:EIX,) is an electric power generator and distributor, and an investor in infrastructure and renewable energy projects with assets totaling more than $36 billion. The company is comprised of a regulated utility, Southern California Edison, and an unregulated group of business units, Edison Mission Group. The California Public Utilities Commission does not regulate the terms of EMG's products and services.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070503/20070503005842.html?.v=1