In the wake of Maryland”™s rejection of $200 million in federal funding for smart meters, it was not immediately apparent whether the parent company of Connecticut Light & Power would get a second crack at corralling that money for smart meters here.
In a move that stunned energy observers nationally, the Maryland Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric”™s plan to install nearly 1.4 million “smart” meters throughout its territory, a proposal backed by a $200 million commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Baltimore utility had won the federal funding over competing applications from energy companies nationally, including Hartford-based Northeast Utilities, which had proposed smart meters for Connecticut Light & Power, the dominant utility in Fairfield County. Northeast Utilities tested meters last year that could be used for demand-response programs, but failed in its application for $140 million in federal funding to support a rollout of the devices in Connecticut.
Demand response refers to the ability of customers to adjust their electricity use by responding to price signals or brownout risks, in part through the use of smart meters.
In a March filing with the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, Northeast Utilities had suggested it will press on with smart meter technology on its own dime, a stance the company still maintains.
“Our proposal calls for a full AMI (advanced meter infrastructure) implementation over a four-year period for all of CL&P”™s 1.2 million customers beginning in mid 2012,” said Leon Olivier, chief operating officer of Northeast Utilities, in a May conference call with investment analysts. “This timing assumes that the AMI standards and cyber security protocols presently under development are near completion and that we have received approval from Connecticut regulators. We currently estimate that the capital costs associated with this initiative will approach about $300 million.”
The Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission”™s rejection of NU”™s application had puzzled some, given the electricity “congestion” surcharges in recent years levied by FERC on businesses and residences in southwest Connecticut, one of a handful of areas in the country to receive the designation along with Boston and southern California.
Consolidated Edison Co. received a $136 million commitment to install advanced grid technologies in New York. The lone Connecticut electricity supplier to win a federal smart meter award was the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative based in Norwich, which received $9 million to install 13,000 meters in five towns.
In a separate report issued in late June, FERC staff said public and private-sector organizations nationally should form a coalition to help regions, states, and municipalities create electricity demand response programs. Connecticut is one of 10 examples of retail demand response nationally cited in the 120-page FERC action plan on demand response.
“There is strength in numbers,” said Jon Wellinghoff, FERC chairman, in a prepared statement. “Coalitions harness the combined energy of individual organizations, producing results that can go far beyond what can be accomplished on an individual basis.”
Americans have a low awareness of smart meter technology, according to an “EcoPinion” survey taken in May by Santa Clara, Calif.-based EcoAlign. Seven in 10 respondents said they have not heard the term before, but once explained overwhelmingly endorsed the idea.
“Consumers conceptually like the idea of smart grid,” said Jamie Wimberly, CEO of EcoAlign, in a prepared statement. “But the report also highlighted three critical challenges: meeting consumer expectations of smart grid to lower costs or cut energy consumption; moving beyond the commodity (smart meters) to a much fuller value proposition (smart grid); and aligning the smart grid with smart communications and marketing that recognizes personal preferences and needs.”
