How smart is your meter?
By: J. David Chapman/August 1, 2019
How smart is your electric meter? Over half of the electricity customers in the U.S. now have smart meters. And guess what? Oklahoma is a leader in installations of the technology, with over 80% of Oklahoma electric customers now using them.
Smart meters have two-way communication capability between electric utilities and customers. This two-way advanced meter installation allows utilities and customers to interact to support smart consumption applications using real-time electricity data. Smart meters can support demand response and distribution generation, improve reliability, and provide information that consumers can use to save money by managing their use of electricity. AMI data provide utilities with detailed outage information in the event of a storm or other system disruption, helping utilities restore service to customers more quickly and reducing the overall length of electric system outages.
AMI provides quick, accurate measurements of electrical use while eliminating the need for estimated monthly bills or home visits from meter readers. One disadvantage of AMI is the elimination of meter reading, so meter readers are likely to lose their jobs or need retraining for other jobs in the organization. The good news is it takes several years to implement AMI technology and plenty of time to retrain the workforce. Another unintended consequence of AMI is customer security and privacy issues. It is up to the municipality or electric company to ensure the security and privacy of the metering data.
Building a solid, smart foundation for a more environmentally clean and increasingly digital energy grid allows electric companies to deliver new services to customers. Investing in smart meters is one of the first steps in building a smarter energy infrastructure. As electric companies continue to manage, operate, and invest in an increasingly digital energy grid, the next step is to utilize the data being generated as a strategic asset to improve grid operations, use customer resources more efficiently, and offer new services to customers.
Maybe the best news of all is that this data and efficiency can be used to lower the costs of electricity and avoid the capital expense of building new power plants. Reducing the amount of electricity used and avoiding expansion of the production infrastructure will have a positive effect on our environment and ultimately our quality of life.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).