SOUTHWICK – Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) is submitting comments today regarding a state mandate on smart meters.
Smart meters replace the old-fashioned electric meters in use for more than 100 years, automatically sending real-time usage information back to the company for monitoring and billing purposes.
Gov. Deval Patrick and the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued an order calling for comments and discussion panel participants on a new law that states that all Massachusetts utilities must submit a plan based on the premise that smart meters “must be in place.” The deadline is today.
“We’ll be filing our comments on Friday and look forward to then working with all stakeholders,” said WMECO Senior Media Relations Specialist Priscilla Ress, adding that “WMECO does not have smart meters in our service territory.”
The DPU issued an order last month that will result in the modernization of the Commonwealth’s electricity grid. Massachusetts’ electric utilities will be required to develop a Grid Modernization Plan that includes investing in infrastructure for advanced metering functionality.
Advanced metering enables two-way communication between the utility and the customer, helping to achieve cost and energy savings and allow for efficient grid operations. The necessary infrastructure includes smart meters, communications networks and new data management systems to give customers greater choice about their energy use and real-time information to enable the utilities to respond better to storms.
“Northeast Utilities, which in Massachusetts includes WMECo and NSTAR, is an active participant in the DPU’s current grid modernization proceedings,” said Ress.
Neighboring Westfield Gas and Electric will not participate in the panel because it is a municipal utility and not an investor owned utility like Northeast Utilities.
Four major ‘smart’ meter pilots to the tune of upwards of $100 million have been initiated. The largest, National Grid’s, has not officially begun. Unitil’s in Fitchburg and NStar have started their programs.
According to the DPU, in addition to savings and reliability, grid modernization will allow for easier adoption of clean energy technologies like renewable distributed generation and electricity storage. Advanced metering also enables targeted electricity rates for electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging stations.
The order follows a study into the potential for grid modernization technologies such as advanced meters, cell phone applications and smart appliances. The investigation was launched in 2012 and resulted in a comprehensive report to the DPU from its grid modernization stakeholder group after eight months.
In addition to requiring the plans, the DPU has proposed a targeted cost recovery mechanism that will enable the utility to recover costs for investing in grid modernization technologies more quickly than the typical cost recovery mechanism allows.
“Grid modernization will allow customers to gain more control over their electricity usage and save money on their electricity bills,” said DPU Chair Ann Berwick. “Developing a policy to fully realize the benefits of a modern grid is part of the DPU’s mission to increase the reliability of electric service for residents across the Commonwealth and facilitate the integration of renewable power.”
