Texas Utility to Spend $690M on Smart Meter Roll Out
Sometimes we get wrapped up in detailing bleeding-edge innovations that startups are developing to help monitor home energy use. But, first and foremost, cutting home power requires a huge investment from your utility, and usually a well-established company to sell and install all those necessary smart meters. This morning, Texas utility Oncor said it’s working with a smart-meter company Landis+Gyr, based in Switzerland, to roll out a $690 million smart-meter project for 7 million customers.
That will include 3 million installed advanced meter systems, which the companies say is the largest project in Texas and one of the largest in the United States. Landis+Gyr’s contact is for $360 million, notes the Wall Street Journal. Smart meters enable customers to see how much power they are consuming, at what rate, in real time, which can encourage them to cut back. Oncor’s release this morning cites California and Ontario studies that show smart meters cut home energy use by 9 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.
That helps save customers money on their electricity bill and helps the utility better manage the power grid. PG&E and Southern California Edison have started on similar efforts. So why don’t all utilities do this?
Ah, right: the price tag. Oncor is spending $690 million to install the technology, which includes everything from the meters, the system, the installation, the back office support, the low-income in-home displays, customer education and legal costs. The customers will also ultimately help foot the bill. Oncor’s plan, which still needs regulatory approval, requests an added fee of “less than $2.35 per month for 11 years.” The release notes that an important component of successfully deploying the technology will be a consumer education campaign. True, but also installing this type of energy efficiency technology can often be significantly less than the cost of adding new power generation.
Photo courtesy of Landis+Gyr
Will this Landis+Gyr meter allow me to monitor my use directly… if so, what is the interface to my home network?
JD, The company says that the advanced meter system will allow for in-home displays, which will be provided by the utilities. The system can also be run with your personal computer via your home network.
[...] Rubens No Comments Posted May 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am in Energy First we had Texas utility Oncor sign a $690 million deal for smart meters and now North Carolina-based Duke Energy has announced ambitious plans to build a statewide smart [...]
“But, first and foremost, cutting home power requires a huge investment from your utility”: Not true, there are plenty of innovative new companies that can help the homeowner to cut power usage at a fraction of the price of a new meter and without the intervention of the utility.
Hi,
The story is suspiciously vague about the technical side, in particular about HOW the utility company will interface with the new meter.
In the Netherlands we have a debate about a plan to let these smart meters send the power consumption data via the Internet to the utility company each 15 minutes (!!). That is excellent information for burglars! The suggestion was even made to use electricity during one’s vacation, just to give the impression that someone is at home.
Be forewarned!
[...] Rubens No Comments Posted August 19th, 2008 at 9:01 pm in Startups Smart-meter deployment is happening all across the continent (and beyond) and the funding keeps rolling in, in increasingly large [...]
Smart meters are better than dumb meters, but think twice about yet another meter that offers no real time information and no way to convey real time information to your smart house.
This is a HUGE missed opportunity. If our smart house can understand real time usage, a tidal wave of innovation will be unleashed saving billions in energy. Imagine coordinated appliances scheduling themselves.
As it is, “Not so Smart Meters” do away with meter readers and help out with load leveling.
Now if we are lucky, the utility will share useful information… or perhaps make it into a “profit center” selling you your information.
Smart consumers need access to their real time usage information to make real time decisions.
[...] recently inked a four-year, $360 million contract with Texas utility Oncor, a $10 million deal with Idaho Power, and a $52 million deal with Arizona [...]
I hope the smart meters are rolled out in my area. I am 100% for them if they give me a price decrease during off peak usage. I can easily direct a lot of my electric usage to off peak. For instance, my dishwasher has a feature (as do many now) that allows me to delay the start time up to 6 hours. That way I can have it run after 10pm for instance, off peak.
As for the cost, one of the articles said it would charge customers $2.35 per month for the meters for 11 years, so that is about $300. Once again, assuming off peak rates are substantially less, the payout will be immediate, meaning I expect that I could save more than the $2.35/month.
Hope these come to my area soon. Looks like Duke, my electricity provider, is doing it in other States, so hopefully it will come here.
Too bad it takes a non-US Company to build these. Where is our technical capability. These meters are simple technology.
[...] million smart meters set to roll out to PG&E (those that GE isn’t providing). Earlier, it inked a four-year, $360 million contract with Texas utility Oncor, a $10 million deal with Idaho Power, and a $52 million deal with Arizona [...]
This technology is more likely to be used to increase your costs per kilowatt hour during peak usage periods than to reduce your costs during off peak hours.
[...] as soon as possible.” The company, which acquired Georgia-based CellNet-Hunt in 2006, is already working with Oncor and PG&E on smart meter [...]
i like the idea of the smart meters, but if i do the math it looks like they are overcharging. the end number is about $930M charged to the customer, maybe they only charge you as they roll it out?