It is time, Delmarva Power says, for its Delaware customers to “take control of your energy use.”
And, the utility says, with the installation of more than 300,000 “smart meters” to record and monitor electricity use at residences throughout the state, it is not only improving service but is also giving customers a valuable tool to help them monitor their own energy usage.
“We are looking to change behavior,” said Bridget Shelton, senior media representative for Pepco Holdings, of which Delmarva Power is a wholly owned subsidiary.
“We want the customer to choose to run the dishwasher, the washing machine later in the evening on a hot summer day. Run it at 10 p.m., not at 7. If we all work together to reduce peak energy usage, that will put [downward] pressure on prices,” she said.
Delmarva recently launched a new energy conservation plan called Take Control, with its own website, www.takecontroldelaware.com, which offers videos and dozens of tips on conservation techniques. More importantly, it shows customers how to access their account online, insert information about the size of their home and the appliances they use, and how to use charts and graphs customized to their accounts to understand their usage patterns, hour by hour. The system offers customers “a bird’s eye view of their personal energy use,” Shelton said.
The smart meters, with their two-way radio signals, also provide the utility with numerous benefits. They eliminate the need for meter readers, saving personnel and reducing the number of vehicles on the road, and eliminate less accurate estimated readings. They provide faster information about the location of power outages. And they simplify the process of starting and shutting off service when a customer moves.
While Delmarva touts its innovation, there is a price attached to it — a price the state Public Service Commission (PSC) has yet to determine — and it’s not the only initiative by a Delaware utility to reduce consumption during peak hours. Three years ago, the Delaware Electric Cooperative, which serves residents of much of Kent and Sussex counties, began its “Beat the Peak” campaign, offering its members a device to help reduce usage in peak periods without logging on to a computer to check consumption patterns.
Related story: Learn more about the Delaware Electric Cooperative's "Beat the Peak" program here.
Delmarva Power has invested $86 million — about $245 per household — to purchase and install electric smart meters, Shelton said. (A “smart module” insert to be installed on some 123,000 gas meters in Delaware costs another $102 per unit.) Delmarva will ask the PSC to approve a rate increase for that amount minus any savings in operational costs it will recover (by not needing meter readers, for example), Shelton said. The charge would be amortized over the anticipated 15-year life expectancy of the meters.
“In the long run, the cost per month for the consumer will be pennies,” said David L. Bonar, Delaware PSC ombudsman.
But State Rep. John Kowalko (D-Newark South), chairman on the House Energy Committee, doesn’t think customers should pick up the tab for the smart meters because, as he sees it, the new equipment benefits the utility more than it benefits consumers. Delmarva saves, he said, because it no longer has to pay meter readers and, by using consumption data obtained through the smart meters, “they should be able to purchase electricity much more accurately.”
Bonar said, however, that the PSC, when it gave Delmarva authorization in September 2008 to install the smart meters on a pilot basis, ruled that the meters are part of the utility’s infrastructure — like its poles and wires — so it’s proper to include some of the cost in the calculation of its rate base.
Kowalko is also concerned that Delmarva could use the customer information gathered through the smart meters — specifically the amount of energy consumed during peak hours — to charge some users more than others.
Delmarva does not do that now. The cost of electricity purchased by Delmarva at various prices and delivered through its lines is totaled and averaged among all its customers, Shelton and Bonar said.
"Delmarva Power's plans for Smart Gas Meters"
For its 123,000 residential natural gas customers, Delmarva Power is also installing a module that will transform existing gas meters into “smart meters.”
However, spokesman Bridget Shelton said, the project “has hit a few bumps in the road” because the module is not aligning properly with each type of gas meter Delmarva now has in service. According to Shelton, about 21,000 modules have been installed and they hope to complete the project in the spring of 2012.
In the future, Shelton said, Delmarva will file with the PSC for permission to apply “smart rates,” offering credits to consumers for shifting use from peak to off-peak hours, to take effect sometime in 2013.
Kowalko said, however, that revenue to offset the credit “has to come from somewhere” and that could mean “higher rates for those who can’t afford it” or who can’t adjust their usage habits.
Data gathered through smart meters can help customers in several ways, Shelton said. Not only do they have the ability to review their usage patterns and make changes on their own, but the utility has added a team of “energy advisors” in its call centers who have been trained to help identify factors that could trigger spikes in usage and billing, she said.
As an example, Shelton mentioned instances where customers have seen their bills increase following installation of new heat pumps, which should lead to lower bills, and further analysis determined that the wiring for the heat pump wasn’t done properly, leading to greater usage. When the problems were fixed, usage returned to proper levels, she said.
Although the installation of smart meters has led to occasional complaints of inaccurate readings in other parts of the country, that has not been an issue here. “We have seen no error in bills from any smart meter installation,” Bonar said. The meters Delmarva is installing “are a top-of-the-line product,” Kowalko added.
Shelton said the utility has gotten some questions about the accuracy of billing statements and, in those cases, has dispatched someone to verify the meter reading. “It’s part of acclimating the customer,” she said.
In California and several other states, there have also been questions raised about the danger of radio frequency emissions from smart meters. A study by the California Council on Science and Technology, released in January, found that properly installed wireless smart meters “result in much smaller levels of radio frequency (RF) exposure than many existing common household electronic devices, particularly cell phones and microwave ovens.”
“Scientific evidence doesn’t show any connection between smart meters and any adverse health outcomes,” Shelton said.
She did note that Delmarva has encountered cases where the meter’s radio frequency signal did interfere with other equipment in customers’ homes, such as infant monitors. In those cases, she said, the utility has sent technicians to the home to adjust the meter.
Even with the occasional complaint, smart meters are here to stay. There are no provisions that allow customers to opt out of having a smart meter, Shelton said. “For our customers to get the full benefit of this technology,” she said, “we must install the equipment for all of our customers.