Of Smart Meters And Smart Consumers

from The Heritage Foundation and The New York Times--Green Blog:

April 8, 2010, 10:26 am Of Smart Meters and Smart Consumers


By JOHN LORINC



Bloomberg



Consumers from Texas to California have reported disappointing results and even higher electricity bills after converting to smart meters. Eduction is lacking, some say. Mounting evidence of widespread consumer dissatisfaction with smart meters is linked to a lack of understanding about how businesses and homeowners can boost energy efficiency, says Gary Fromer, the chief executive of CPower Inc., an energy management company based in New York.



“Educating users on how to manage their electricity use is under-emphasized, especially with smart grid grants,” Mr. Fromer said, adding that smart meters alone are “insufficient” to change behavior.



Smart meters provide users with detailed real-time information about electricity consumption. In theory, consumers can use this data to shift usage away from peak periods, effectively creating more capacity without adding generation.



Such metering is being encouraged by $3.4 billion in federal smart grid grants. American utilities are deploying millions of these devices.



But as Green Inc. has reported, ratepayers from Texas to California have reported disappointing results and even higher electricity bills after converting to smart meters.





In Toronto, the local utility estimated that 92 percent of its customers would see an average 7 percent rate increase because of time-of-use metering, according to The Toronto Star.



What’s more, a recent study commissioned by three American utilities found that it is possible to hack into some smart meters, leaving grids vulnerable to tampering, according to The Associated Press.



Such stories appear to be fueling interest in smarter uses for smart meters.



CPower is among a handful of companies racing to sign up commercial and institutional clients with services designed to cut their energy costs and earn cash incentives by shifting consumption loads to less expensive periods.



EnerNOC, a Boston company, recently acquired Small Foot, a Colorado demand management company and last month secured a three-year deal with Pacific Gas & Electric to provide energy management services to the utility’s nonresidential customers.



PG&E is facing consumer lawsuits over inflated energy bills following smart meter installation.



The demand management companies assess their customers’ energy consumption patterns and propose ways of load shifting or demand reduction. The service, says Mr. Fromer, takes advantage of time-of-day pricing and incentives established by independent system operators.



But as our colleagues at GreenWire reported this week, some observers note that the rush to adopt a new gadget has also overshadowed low-tech solutions.



Before investing millions in smart grids that “control set-back temperatures on refrigerators because there is or isn’t going to be a Super Bowl,” Ralph Izzo, the chairman of the New Jersey Public Service Enterprise Group told GreenWire, “we need to get folks to caulk around their windows.”