In designing the Power Grid Network, we have to examine those ‘Smart Gridders’ out there on the “Bleeding Edge” carefully – their mistakes can reveal our solutions.
Who gets the benefit of smart meters is important. Regulators in the U.S. are weighing in to stop ‘one-sided business cases’ for smart meters in their tracks:
Dominion Virginia Power extends a smart meter field test before going all out with a $600 million rollout. Duke Energy scales back a $450 million rollout after getting slapped by Indiana regulators. And PG&E’s smart meter program, taking punches from fighting-mad customers for months, will get audited courtesy of state regulators.
Dominion’s overall plan calls for replacing all 2.4 million meters in its service area with smart meters. About 55,000 thousand meters are now being tested in two locations.
Dominion says it’s still committed to a Smart Grid and that the extended test phase is intended to address any concerns about the metering project. But the State Corporation Commission (SCC), which is beginning hearings on Dominion requests to put in place up to 12 demand response programs and rate hikes to pay for them, isn’t pumped about the utility’s smart meter program.
“The actual benefit value realized by ratepayers will be less than the costs borne by ratepayers,” Howard M. Spinner, economics and finance division director for SCC, was quoted as saying in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “The project is likely to save only 60 percent of the energy claimed by the company.”
A Dominion spokeswoman said customers will help pay the cost of the smart meters, but will pay less over time.
While a Duke meter rollout in Ohio will hum along as planned, the company is cutting back a proposed Indiana Smart Grid project involving 800,000 meters and other digital equipment because regulators said it cost too much and that Duke hadn’t shown that it would do customers much good.
Beleaguered PG&E — sued over its meter program by customers who blame the new technology for electric bill overcharges — is going to get audited. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is going to hire a consultant soon to conduct an independent audit of the utility’s program.
While PG&E said it field tested over 1,700 meters and found no problems, that hasn’t cooled off customers infuriated by the alleged overcharges and the company’s tiered rate system. Under the system, rates per kilowatt-hour increase as more power is used and the customer climbs into the highest tiers. Its highest tier, 47.39 cents per kilowatt-hour, is well above Southern California Edison’s highest rate of 34.25 cents per kilowatt-hour, not to mention the 11.47 cents in Austin, Texas.
We should develop a careful, gradual demand response introduction and marketing plan – starting with “positive gain” introductions, moving on the institutional business cases, and discussing the benefits and the costs of ‘smart pricing’. The most important investment it requires is time, then engagement. ‘Smart pricing’ will only succeed to the extent that customers actually know they benefit from it.