Smart Metering: Customer Benefits...Smart Metering: Customer Benefits Partner Do not limit by what “can”be done –Involve customers: residential, commercial, and industrial –Find

Smart Metering:Customer Benefits

Smart Metering West Coast Conference August 29, 2006

Karen BlackmoreProgram Director

Smart Metering: Customer Benefits

Agenda

� Smart Metering background

� Education

� Benefits and considerations

– Economic

– Utility rates

– Time

– Information

– Energy supply

– Societal

– Choice

– Global considerations

� How do we make it work?


Smart Metering Background

� Other countries are on the bandwagon

– Australia

– New Zealand

– European Union

– Canada

� EPAct – United States

– Pennsylvania

– California

– FERC report: � www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/demand-response.pdf

Remember when Kwh, Volts, Watts, Amps, AMR were all we needed to know . . .

Now we have AMI, EPACT, MDM, CPP, TOU . . .

– What’s a customer to think?

– Does a customer have to understand all the jargon?

– How smart does a customer have to be?


Education: Smart Metering—How Smart?


Education

� Vendors

– Myriad products and services for utilities

� Utilities

– Studying, piloting, and implementing

� PUCs

– Studying, observing, and allowing cases

� States

– Observing and contemplating

� Customers

– “Blissfully ignorant” or hungry for information

– At mercy of all of above


Economic Benefits

� Control over energy consumption

� Considerations for customers

– Electricity and gas rates need to be more flexible

– Appliance manufacturers taking the challenge

– Deregulated choices become easier

– Availability of online programs

– Manage impact of rates as/if they increase

� Considerations for utilities– Raw energy prices outside much of their control

– Demand response programs should adapt to wholesale

– Ease in disconnection for fraud


Utility Rate Considerations

� Optimize capital and O&M spending

� Improve workforce management

– Reduce frequency and duration of site visits

– Types of call center contacts will change

� Theft detection and reduction

� Planning management

– Demand forecasting used in new generation

– Investment decisions based on customer profiles

� Flexible tariffs


Time Benefits

� Improved customer service

� Considerations

– Simpler faster meter rereads

– Availability of representatives to handle other inquiries

– Streamlined meter-to-cash process

– Privacy in disconnections and reconnections

– Accuracy of billing/revenues


Information Benefits

� Information to manage use

� Considerations

– Energy usage access anywhere

– Access to high-speed internet

– Competitive retail comparisons

– Water, gas and electricity information

� Improved energy availability

� Considerations for customers

– Power quality and reliability issues located before they impact customers

– Accurate & faster response to outage location & cause

� Considerations for utilities

– Better job of load balancing & maintaining grid stability thru load control

– Faster detection and localization of outages


Energy Supply Benefits

� Business and work

– Places and hours to conduct business

– Flexible working conditions

– Confidence in utility

– Intelligent meter can be a portal to the consumer

� Personal

– Behavior – new habits

– Confidence in chosen program

� Profile of customer usage for premise and self


Societal Benefits

� Flexible options for customers

� Considerations

– Demand response programs

– Pricing comparisons

– Rebates for energy reductions

– Smart appliances and homes

– Prepayment as an option

– Information and education


Choice Benefits

�World population growth

� Perception of apathy

� Conservation

� Global warming

� Independence from foreign oil or exports

� Opportunities to sell energy

� Investment in alternative energy sources

� Customer participation in time and temperature based rates


Global Considerations


A New Frontier: How Do We Make it Work?

� Performance and price

� Deliberately measure

� Communicate and educate

� Partner

� Ongoing cost of meter and info management

� Gaps between supply and demand of electricity

� Energy prices are going up

� Change consumer behavior

� Change utility behavior

� Change regulatory behavior


Performance and Price

� Measurements– Leave nothing to chance– Share what you know


Deliberately Measure

Energy Consumption Region NE1

05

1015202530354045

Jan 1-7

Jan 8-15

Jan 9-26

Jan27-

Feb 2

Feb 3-10

Feb11-18

Feb19-25

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kly

Outages

Mwh

� Formal and informal relationships

– Each employee is a neighbor or relative and hence, a change agent

� Foster creativity

� Billboards, radio & TV spots

� Door hangers

� Community colleges

� Coffeehouses

� Forums and open houses


Communicate and educate


Partner

� Do not limit by what “can” be done

– Involve customers: residential, commercial, and industrial

– Find out what they want to know

– Figure out how to get them the information and the rates they want

– Be ready to change pricing models

– Work with PUC to have more options than you think are needed

– Find the right vendors

– Consider or build consortiums


Summary

�Key benefits for customers

– Energy availability

– Conservation reducing global warming

– Less dependence upon foreign oil

– Economic choices

– Control in multiple hands

– Privacy and access to information

– Flexible business models


Summary

�Key actions to consider for utilities

– Work even more closely with regulatory bodies than before

– Communicate, educate, communicate, inform, communicate

– Be as open to change as customers have to be

Thank you!


Questions or comments?

Documents

Smart Metering: Customer Benefits...Smart Metering: Customer Benefits Partner Do not limit by what “can”be done –Involve customers: residential, commercial, and industrial –Find