NV Energy plans switch to smart meters

Fri, Oct 9, 2009 (3 a.m.)

NV Energy

An overhaul to the way homes and businesses consume, and pay for, energy is on the plate of NV Energy customers.

By 2012, the power company expects to have retrofitted as many as 1.54 million homes and small and medium-sized businesses with smart meters, a technology that would allow customers to closely monitor and manage their energy use, if NV Energy receives a $138 million federal grant from the Energy Department. The department is expected to announce grant recipients by the end of October.

If NV Energy doesn’t receive the grant, it will still begin the retrofitting process, but at a much slower pace.

When a smart meter is installed in a home or business, the utility customer can choose to monitor his usage, pinpointing where and when energy is being used. This can cut costs by 20 percent to 25 percent, said Bob Stewart, senior vice president of customer relationships for NV Energy.

“Customer choice is the biggest part (of the program),” he said.

Customers who sign up for the program will be able to monitor not only their usage, but also how much it will cost to use certain appliances or other technologies during different times of the day.

For instance, someone with an electric car can determine whether to charge her vehicle during the afternoon or overnight, based on the cost difference.

Converting to smart meters will also give the utility an opportunity to change the way consumers are charged for their electricity. Currently, NV Energy customers are charged a flat rate, regardless if the power is used during on or off peak hours.

With a smart meter, different rates could apply. During the two-year pilot program NV Energy is planning to start mid-2011, 144,000 homes in the program will be paying for their use depending on the time of day and different pricing options — peak hours when more energy is consumed costs more, and off-peak use costs less. But because those customers will be part of a study, they won’t pay more than what they had in the past, NV Energy spokesman Rob Stillwell said. If their bill is lower, they will pay less, he said.

Following the study, the state’s Public Utilities Commission will decide whether to allow NV Energy to change from a flat rate pay system to a tier-based one.

If the smart meters help consumers lower their energy use, that would cut operational costs, he said, lowering prices for rate payers.

The company has yet to select a vendor to provide the smart meters and is still testing various technologies.

This is a significant investment for NV Energy, requiring not only the installation of smart meters, but also reconfiguring how its meters communicate with the company. The utility expects to use radio signals to send meter information from the home or business back to the company, Stewart said.

Before the smart meters are installed on a mass scale, the company will be conducting pricing pilots, primarily in Southern Nevada and, to a smaller degree, in the north, he said.

Customers can elect to not participate in the smart meter program, he said, but the meters will be installed, regardless.

“Not everybody is going to sign up for the same option,” Stewart said. “They can choose to do nothing. (But) people who do nothing pay more.”

Completing installation by 2012 is contingent on NV Energy receiving the $138 million from money set aside by the Recovery Act, half the cost of the switchover. The company would have to pay the rest of the cost, also $138 million, Stillwell said. It will cost another $22 million to retrofit the company’s gas customers in Reno.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty around this,” Stewart said.

Discussion: 8 comments so far…

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By vc

Oct. 9, 2009

10:47 a.m.

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Very cool. I cant wait.
By Fccfirstclass (Clint Hoerner)

Oct. 10, 2009

4:26 a.m.

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Seattle City Light has just switched to smart meters and users can track usage on Miscrosoft Holm, a free web site for green energy and home monitoring that also will track gas and water.
By DTJ

Oct. 10, 2009

4:44 a.m.

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Now if the Sun's editorial board would just switch to "smart meters"...
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/oct...
By Bob635

Oct. 10, 2009

5:32 a.m.

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These smart meter should also make it easy for a home owner to add solar power to the grid.
By Harley

Oct. 10, 2009

4:45 p.m.

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Why doesn't NV energy inform the media when system loads are near peak as well as the times of the day when load is the lowest?

Explain why system load information isn't available to the consumer via the internet in real-time?

Such information could be in the form of a color-coded graph reflecting real-time system load e.g. green load is low -- red system load is high. Could even have news media load alerts during peaks to inform consumers to cut back usage, with daily expected loading peaks and alerts broadcasted along with the daily air-quality status information.

Consumers can then better assist in flattening out system loading by washing clothes, dishes etc. during low load conditions while seeking ways to reduce system load during peaks (turning off computers, reducing office lighting, etc.).

While I understand "smart" meters are required to assess pricing incentives, in the meantime, where do I get real-time system loading information to know what times of the day are best/worst for my energy consumption?

Thanks

: )
By Bakersfield (Joe Stormont)

Oct. 11, 2009

2:24 p.m.

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Look up Bakersfield.com (Local newspaper) and read all of the articles about P.G.&E. installing smart meters. There are state investigations, consumer complaints, etc. Smart meters are not very popular around here.
By Daisy64

Oct. 13, 2009

4:39 p.m.

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They are using new meters in Arizona as well, and they are not holding up in the desert heat. Ask any SWG field employee how well their switchover to new meters worked when they did it a couple of years ago. It was filled with problems.

BTW, uddeboa, unless you restrict access to your meter (enclose it or have an aggressive dog where the meter is), your power meter DOES get read every month by a human being. If it's being estimated, that's due to the customer not allowing access by the meter readers. The PUC strictly regulates how often meters can be estimated and it rarely happens for any reason other than access problems.

Part of the reason NV Energy is installing new meters is to get rid of the cost of paying people to read them each month, as well as those connecting and disconnecting power. These jobs will be done remotely instead of out in the field. But the new meters, at least those in use in other areas, are not accurate or fail in the heat. I know a woman who was part of the switch in a neighboring state, and she received a huge bill after the first month. When she complained, her power company told her that's just how it was.

Good luck to all of you in arguing that the great computer in the sky is wrong and you don't really owe that much money.
By Daisy64

Oct. 15, 2009

5:24 a.m.

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Uddeboda,
You're right, the vast majority of the meters in Clark county are on an outside wall of the house.

Within the last month, corporate policy changes have disallowed reading of those meters inside homes and they will be forced to move those meters to the outside in order to avoid disconnection. Sadly, most of those meters are in older homes and owned by people ill equipped to afford it.