The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has completed the installation of smart meters–a project that began in 2009–for more than 600,000 residential and business customers. With so much of the public opposed to smart meters, how did SMUD get buy-in from the majority of its customers? via Customer-centricity drives SMUD smart meter project – FierceEnergy.
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What would the electrical grid look like if everyone could get paid to save energy? Jon Wellinghoff, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. agency that regulates electricity transmission, thinks that’s the future. Last year, Wellinghoff’s agency issued a controversial ruling that in wholesale electricity markets, energy that customers don’t use (dubbed “negawatts”) Continue reading →
Opus Energy has revealed that small and medium enterprises (SME’s) understand the benefits of smart meters for their businesses. Research from Opus Energy found that 15% of the SME’s they questioned already had smart meters installed in their premises. Opus Energy has a target to install 40,000 smart meters in customer premises by the end Continue reading →
Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has selected Landis+Gyr to deploy a smart grid demonstration project that will test consumer response to dynamic pricing signals, as well as the scalability of smart grid technology in the Route 110 corridor located in Farmingdale, NY which is part of LIPA’s service territory. The project includes deployment of Landis+Gyr’s Continue reading →
Hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos caused by widespread outages during last summer’s storms, Commonwealth Edison Co. announced Wednesday it will set up temporary communication centers in areas where 20 percent of customers go without power for three hours or more. Each of the 17 centers can be set up within hours, said Continue reading →
Recent research from J.D. Power and Associates found that utility websites do well providing their customers with a satisfying online experience when it comes to reviewing account information online and scheduling payments. However, new or more complex functions are among the most difficult for customers to understand, according to Power’s 2012 Utility Website Evaluation Study. Overall Continue reading →
Keep electricity flowing to customers, businesses, and industry. For decades, the power system industry has been developing extensive and sophisticated systems and equipment to avoid or shorten power system outages. In fact, power system operations have been termed the largest and most complex machine in the world. Although there are definitely new areas of cyber Continue reading →
Duke Energy is mailing reports to 240,000 residential customers in Ohio showing them how their personal energy usage compares with customers who live in similar homes in their areas. “We know neighbors talk and compare their bills,” said Mark Wyatt, Duke Energy vice president of retail customer products and services. “By showing customers how their Continue reading →
Last month Peco Energy Co. began installing the first of 1.6 million new-generation electric meters, part of a transformation that it hopes will revolutionize the way that customers communicate with the utility. The new meters, which Pennsylvania is requiring for all large electric utilities, allow for two-way wireless communication with customers, setting the stage for Continue reading →
We speak to Alexander Pippert, Head of Innovation, Center Smart Home at German energy provider E.ON, about the work his team is engaged in with broadband operators to provide Smart Home services to its customers, and the benefits he expects these initiatives to deliver. via IPTV news – E.ON: “This year we will test our Continue reading →
Opower said 16 utilities nationwide are participating in its network, representing 20 million households, or about one in every six consumer customers of electricity in the U.S. The release of Opower’s “social energy app” follows a White House challenge for utilities to enable customers to download and compare data on energy use. With all the Continue reading →
In her keynote speech at the i-PCGRID electric reliability conference, Geisha Williams, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Executive Vice President of Electric Operations Geisha Williams said utilities and their partners must carefully analyze and test new technologies before introducing them on a wide scale to customers. Williams also believes the nation’s utilities have an obligation Continue reading →
At San Diego Gas & Electric, the smart grid team didn’t sit around envisioning a day when they would set up contests to get their customers excited about energy efficiency. But that is exactly what the utility did as part of the Biggest Energy Saver contest, where residential customers compete for prizes by shaving kilowatt-hours. Continue reading →
I find I like reading stuff by Jeff St. John at Greentech Media, because he covers all the bases. Almost a month ago he did a piece around San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)’s use of the Ontario’s “Privacy by Design” principles to ensure proper protections for their customers, and hopefully, in-so-doing, meet the requirements Continue reading →
In 2011 First Utility (http://www.first-utility.com/) announced its partnership with Opower, the leading US efficiency and smart grid software company, to create a programme which could reduce UK households’ energy bills by as much as £400 million each year. Using Opower’s software First Utility will translate its customers’ smart meter data into a range of brand Continue reading →
Itron Inc., announced today that Burlington Electric Department (BED) of Burlington, Vt. has selected Itron’s smart grid solution to more efficiently and reliably manage its electric grid. A municipally-owned electric utility serving approximately 16,000 residential customers and more than 3,600 commercial customers, BED’s smart grid project will include 20,000 Itron smart meters, network communication infrastructure Continue reading →
CPS Energy hopes to sign up at least 75 of its commercial and industrial customers to participate in its Demand Response Program. The program is a voluntary load-curtailment program designed to reduce CPS Energy’s peak load growth. The utility offers incentives to customers to reduce their electricity loads on peak summer days. via Target Continue reading →
As the anger over smart meters swelled in California in recent years, Pacific Gas & Electric had more than 92,000 customers request that their smart meter installation be delayed. No matter what the reason was for not wanting the new technology, customers in PG&E’s territory were given a green light to opt out just over Continue reading →
MeterSense will provide meter data management (MDM) to Medicine Hat, Alberta, for the city’s electricity, water, and gas delivery services as part of a larger advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) smart meter project. MeterSense’s AMI and MDM capabilities will enable Medicine Hat to automate meter reading and eliminate the need for regular access to customers’ properties Continue reading →
The future of Fort Collins Utilities and how it interacts with customers is getting energized. City utility crews in March launched the first round of a yearlong project that will install new advanced or “smart” meters in homes and businesses. The new meters will have capabilities beyond their primary purpose – measuring the use of Continue reading →
