In 2009, you wrote about a pilot project on smart meters. Is that completed and what did you learn?
We began the pilot in April 2009 and have installed smart electric meters on 131 homes and six businesses. The meters are “smart” because they offer two-way communications with the utility via a radio signal.
“We receive data on electricity usage as frequently as every 15 minutes,” said Mike Harris, director of information technology for Clark Public Utilities. “We double-checked the meters for the first three months and had 100 percent accuracy. ”
One finding showed the cost-saving potential of the meters by remotely disconnecting and reconnecting service when a person moves in or out of a residence.
“We’re able to remotely read the meter to issue a closing bill and read it again remotely to begin new service. Presently, that requires two round-trip visits to the property,” Harris said. “By doing this remotely, these employees are freed up to do other work.”
The smart meters can help during power outages, too, by automatically alerting the utility when the power has gone out at an address.
“We wouldn’t have to wait for the customer to call us. It would help us better pinpoint the exact areas affected and help identify the cause,” Harris said.
The meters also have been installed on 38 water meters and have shown how they can help reduce water leaks in homes.
“If the meter tells us water is being used around the clock, there is a good possibility there is a leak,” Harris said.
The utility contacted a customer after one such occurrence. “It wasn’t huge,” he said, “but it was consistently dripping and the customer wouldn’t have noticed it until the next bill, if then.”
The next phase of the pilot project will see if the meters can help the utility better manage demand on the electric system by regulating heating and cooling systems remotely in the homes of a few employees.
Utilities in other parts of the country have tested this strategy as a means of managing peak demand for electricity by reducing usage on a voluntary basis by remotely controlling electric water heaters and heating and cooling systems.
“We expect to test how this would work for our electric grid and provide any sort of value to our customers,” Harris said.
The pilot program will continue through 2010, after which time it will be further assessed, Harris said. “It’s expensive to do our entire system and we need to get a good return on the investment to make sure it makes sense for everybody.”
The Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities energy counselors, who provide conservation and energy use information to utility customers. Send questions to energyadviser@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, in care of Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA. 98668. A panel of local energy efficiency and energy product experts will review your questions. Past topics are available at www.clarkpublicutilities.com.
