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Mar-13-2009PG&E gets California approval to fund smart meters(topic overview)
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LOS ANGELES, March 12 (Reuters) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co got state approval on Thursday to spend another $467 million to upgrade its "smart meter" program that seeks to cut energy use. This is on top of $1.74 billion the California Public Utilities Commission allowed in 2006 for PG&E;'s "SmartMeter Program," and increases ratepayer-funded cost to $2.2 billion. While both natural gas and electricity meters will be swapped out, the power meters are more intricate and will give customers more chance to adjust consumption in real time. The new meters will also give the utility the ability to connect and disconnect meters remotely, which PG&E; says will cut vehicle miles by its workers. [1] It's official ''' Pacific Gas & Electric Co.' s smart meter program will roll on with'' Silver Spring Networks. The utility got the sign-off from the California Public Utility Commission on Thursday to charge ratepayers for an additional $467 million to bring 10 million gas and electric meters with two-way communications capabilities to its customers by 2011. That brings the program's total cost to $2.2 billion, and allows the utility to officially add technology from Redwood City, Calif. -based Silver Spring''to its electric smart meters. PG&E;'s smart meter rollout has gone through a few changes since it was launched in 2006, including bringing Silver Spring on board to install its communications cards in electric meters from General Electric and Landis+Gyr (see Q&A: PG&E’s Andrew Tang ).[2]
The company had asked to collect $527.5 million from customers to pay for the program. The California Public Utilities Commission approved PG&E;'s meter upgrade plan by a unanimous voice vote, although two commissioners said the company should have included the technologies as part of its original smart meter program launched in 2006. In 2006, the CPUC gave PG&E; the green light to spend $1.6 billion to replace its 5 million electric customers' and 4 million natural gas customers' analog meters with digital devices.[3]
For that program, PG&E; signed contracts with General Electric Co. (GE) and Swiss meter maker Landis + Gyr for the digital meters. The technology deployed in that program, however, was insufficient to support more advanced communications capabilities that PG&E; and other utilities see as critical to upgrading their distribution grids to boost conservation and improve reliability. CPUC Commissioner John Bohn said he thought it was unfair that utility customers have to pay to upgrade smart meters that should have originally included the correct technology.[4]
The $467 million will cover the improved meters and Silver Springs' technology, Corey said. CPUC Commissioner John Bohn said he thought it was unfair for utility customers to have to pay to upgrade smart meters that should have originally included the correct technology.[3]
Silver Spring also has deals to provide smart meter communications and networking to''Florida Power & Light, American Electric Power and other utilities. The PG&E; project has been its highest-profile smart meter contract to date, and is seen as a critical test of its technology (see Silver Spring Grabs $75M ). PG&E; will start out by reading the meters remotely, eliminating the need to send workers out in trucks to read them.[2] The remaining 220,000 are equipped with Silver Spring's circuit boards and radios, which communicate with one another and with utility communication nodes via radio frequency mesh technology. That's the technology that PG&E; intends to use for the rest of the electric smart meters it will install.[2]
For now, PG&E; is looking to ZigBee to communicate between smart meters and in-home devices. The''protocol based on the 802.15.4 standard'' is emerging as a favorite for this kind of communications, although WiFi and WiMax are also being considered by some utilities. Silver Spring has'' named Vancouver-based'' Exegin Technologies Ltd. as''its ZigBee partner for most of its smart meter contracts. These are some relevant categories: Uncategorized. You can follow comments on this post through the RSS feed.[2]
PG&E; contracted with startup Silver Springs Network last year for the communication device that goes into the meter, as well as the software and network equipment that transmits data from the meters to PG&E.;[3]
PG&E; said the costs of the new technology will be "more than offset over time" by savings from efficiencies and reduced power purchasing expenses. As part of its program approved Thursday, PG&E; contracted with technology startup Silver Springs Network to develop networking and software for the meters.[4]
PG&E; will also begin rolling out new technology that will automatically switch customer appliances on or off, in response to price signals and the need to cut energy use during peak demand periods. [4] The improved meters could support other technologies in the future that could do things such as automatically switch customer appliances on or off, in response to price signals and the need to cut energy use during peak demand periods.[3]
By the end of 2011, all 5.2 million electricity and 4.8 million natural gas meters will be "smart," which means customers will get real-time readings of energy use.[1] PG&E; so far has installed smart meters for 360,000 electricity and 1.75 million natural gas customers.[1]
PG&E; has installed communications equipment from Aclara on 1.5 million gas meters, as well as about 600,000 electric smart meters, PG&E; Paul Moreno said in a Thursday email.[2]
PG&E; said the smart meters are crucial to boosting energy efficiency, customer satisfaction and system reliability.[3] PG&E; envisions using the smart meters to detect and pinpoint power outages more quickly at first. It wants to connect smart meters to in-home devices that will be able to monitor and potentially control power usage by thermostats, appliances and other devices remotely, whether by the homeowner or the utility.[2] "We're forced to inflict on rate payers the consequences of a mistake in judgment by PG&E;," Bohn said, before voting to approve the smart meter upgrade.[3]
"There's been a lot of investment in technologies that support smart metering, " said Jana Corey, director of PG&E;'s energy information network. "The upgrade will take advantage of those improvements on the market in last 1 1/2 years."[3] The long-term goal is to bring a set of two-way communications between customers and utility to measure and control energy use ''' the promise of so-called "smart grid" improvements being undertaken by utilities across the country. That's where the upgrade comes in.[2] Much of that extra cost was for "programmable communicating thermostats" that would have allowed California utilities to use radio signals to adjust temperatures in individual homes. After criticism that this smacked of "Big Brother," it was dropped by the California Energy Commission in January 2008.[1]
Law360, New York (March 12, 2009) -- A San Francisco court has thrown out a lawsuit accusing PG&E; Corp. of engaging in fraudulent business practices involving some $4 billion in assets transferred by subsidiary Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to its parent company while the utility was losing billions of dollars during the height of California's energy crisis.[5] PG&E; is the primary unit of PG&E; Corp ( PCG.N ), based in San Francisco. The CPUC said the decision makes PG&E;'s system comparable to those being used by San Diego Gas & Electric Co, a unit of Sempra Energy ( SRE.N ) and Southern California Edison Co, a unit of Edison International ( EIX.N ).[1]
PG&E; signed contracts with General Electric Co. ( GE) and Swiss meter maker Landis + Gyr to make the digital meters. Those contracts were amended to allow for new, improved meters. [3]
Some of the new funding will be spent on monitoring new technologies coming online for smart meter and smart grid applications.[3]
"We need to be able to count on the utilities' accurate assessment of technology changes in order to get to the smart grid at the least possible cost."[3]
Now, the average PG&E; electricity customer using 550 kilowatt-hours per month gets a bill of $74, and a customer using 850 KWh pays $164. Those using more power pay more per kilowatt in an effort to encourage conservation. [1] The company had asked to collect $527.5 million from customers to pay for the program.[4]
PG&E; said the program is crucial to boosting energy efficiency, customer satisfaction and system reliability.[4]
SOURCES
1. PG&E; gets California approval to fund smart meters | Industries | Industrials, Materials & Utilities | Reuters
2. Greentech Media: Green Light » Blog Archive » PGE Gets Thumbs Up for Smart Meter Program
3. UPDATE:Calif Regulators OK PG&ES; $467 Million Smart Meter Upgrade
4. CORRECT:Calif Regulators OK $467 Million PG&E; Plan To Upgrade Meters
5. Law360
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