- Con Ed
- Utility Transformations
- Utility Transformations
- Advanced Metering Infrastructure
- Smart Meters
Big New York Smart Meter Rollout Plans Take Shape, but Issues Remain
Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), the largest utility in New York, recently received approval of its ambitious plans for a smart meter rollout, but the latest details point to some concerns about paying for the requirements and more details about customer engagement.
The plan, approved by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC), calls for the installation of approximately 3.5 million smart electric meters and for some 1.2 million gas meters to be deployed in Con Ed’s service territory starting next year, with an expected completion by 2022.
But in the announcement, the commission said its approval was contingent on the utility providing a detailed plan for providing continued engagement with customers and third parties. In addition, the commission expects 15-minute meter reads for residential customers, whereas the original proposal called for hourly data from meters. With the more frequent reads, the issue of charging fees, if any, for providing the more granular data has yet to be resolved. For non-residential meters, the meter data is to be at 5-minute intervals.
Program Questions
In addition, there are concerns about how Con Ed will implement the Green Button Connect program, which is a federally sanctioned initiative aimed at giving residential customers easy online access to their detailed energy consumption data. Originally, Con Ed indicated hourly data would be available at no charge. But now a group called Mission:data, which represents third-party companies like SolarCity, Stem, Bidgely, PlotWatt, and EnerNOC, has raised the issue of whether Con Ed will be charging a fee for data access. Con Ed has until the end of July to submit new details about data access and who will have to pay.
Undoubtedly, the smart meter rollout envisioned by Con Ed will eventually be deployed and customers should benefit by having a more modern and flexible system. But the devil, as always, is in the details, and when it shakes out, some of the hoped-for capabilities might be less than expected. And third-party energy service providers might be less than satisfied. As we’ve seen with other smart meter implementations—the United Kingdom’s complicated deployment comes to mind—the complexity of an advanced metering infrastructure rollout can sometimes be overwhelming, and the real costs not readily apparent. Bumps in the road have become commonplace, especially with large projects, but a smarter grid is still attainable.