Transforming Ratepayers into Customers – SPGTC 2011
May 12, 2011, Smart Power Grid Technology Conference, Santa Clara, CA—Tom Tamarkin from EnergyCite described the needed changes in utility provider perspectives to improve their image and relationships with consumers. The advent of smart meters provides an opportunity for utilities to become more involved and interact with their customers.
First, a little background information. Around 2001, the first in-home energy management tools became available, and in working prototypes were shown to state lawmakers. In ’04, the California Public Utilities Commission mandated automatic meters resulting in a need to replace 12 million electro- mechanical power meters by 2012. At first, Southern California Edison opposed the change, but later came out in favor of the meters.
Now all the utilities are involved in programs to replace single phase residential meters in California. Other states are also following with their own conversion plans. Some of the first issues raised by users included the RF power and its possible effects on people, data security, the prospect of the government and utilities looking over your shoulder, and accuracy.
As an example of the disconnect between utilities and its customers, Pacific Gas & Electric started replacing meters without any user information for indications indicating the value of these new devices. After almost 2 years into the program, they finally published a pamphlet that describes the basic meter transmitter functions and capabilities in the future to communicate directly with electronics within the house.
Is this high automation and communication capability what utilities really want? From the responses utilities have given to date, they don’t really want to do these things but cannot stop the conversion process. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this conversion process is not simple because the full capabilities of a smart metering program require bidirectional communications through the meter to the utility and to internal appliances.
This is really a chicken and egg problem. Without intelligent appliances, the smart meters can only record data and transmit it back to utility. LG and Whirlpool will have interfaces in their appliances can communicate with the meters. Other companies are also creating intelligent appliances, and many of these will be available next year. Unfortunately, people do not buy appliances because they have an interface to the smart meter, but will replace an old appliance when it breaks down. Most of these white goods have projected lifetimes over a decade, so the transition to the connected house will take a while.
To convert ratepayers into customers, the utilities need to convince their customers at the smart meters can enable variable pricing and variable pricing can change consumer behavior. When homes have an energy dashboard with plug-and-play capabilities to register gas, electricity, and even water usage, then consumers can see what energy is costing. This is similar to the way that consumers buy gasoline for their cars, they see the price and then decide how much to buy and how much they will use over time.
Smart meters take measurements of voltage, current, and have internal calculators to calculate watts, kilowatt hours, power factor, and phase with reference to a clock. To perform all these functions, the electronics must include memory, a microcomputer, and radio-frequency interfaces. With these power data, the user can proactively address performance issues in the appliances.
Utilities benefit from the conversion to smart meters in a number of ways. They eliminate truck rolls for meter reading and are remotely upgradable should any changes in software the required. Consumers can take the real-time information to just their usage patterns and possibly save money in the process. The fly in the ointment is that, currently, PG&E will only allow users to access and not anything within the last hour. Without short-term usage information a consumer cannot see the effects of behavior changes and therefore cannot take advantage of variable pricing.
