Smart Grid Update

Smart Grid technologies have been emerging around the world the past few years, and some new infrastructure has been rolled out by Oregon utilities. While the future isn’t exactly here today, the groundwork is being laid for substantial technological advances in how customers receive their bills and, more importantly, track their energy usage.

PGE completed a system-wide upgrade of its meters last year, meaning that each and every customer is now part of the company’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), i.e. there is now a smart meter on every house. The primary benefit so far has been cost savings from remote metering, since meter readers no longer have to manually record data each month. These meters are also more sensitive to low power draws and measure usage with greater precision, allowing the company to calculate bills more accurately. PGE can also more easily detect power outages and respond to them automatically, rather than having to rely on customers to report outages by phone.

Of more interest to customers may be the coming ability to select billing dates. PGE’s new smart meters remotely collect usage data every few minutes, so it is not difficult for the company to calculate a bill for any period. In the next few months, customers will be able to select the due date for their monthly bill, rather than having to work around the date of the meter reader’s visit. Following that, consumers will have access to detailed usage data, both on the bill and accessible through the company’s web portal. This data will allow customers to assess their energy usage on a daily or hourly basis instead of having to rely only on a monthly bill. This is about as futuristic as we’d like things to get for now, as a number of proposals for mandatory time-of-use and marginal cost rates have emerged that could be pretty bad deals for customers. CUB remains committed to keeping rates both low and simple, and either of those rate structures would complicate bills without providing significant benefits for customers.

The Oregon PUC opened a docket last year to investigate standards for Smart Grid technologies. CUB intervened and submitted comments to the Commission, and CUB staff attended several workshops with Commission staff and other parties to work out the details. Unfortunately, not a whole lot came out of the proceeding. The Commission staff had several proposals that we felt were ill-advised, and we weighed in to let the Commissioners know our views. These issues included Staff’s proposal to prohibit utilities from recovering costs on demand response programs and restrictions on the sharing of customer data. We are anticipating feedback from the Commission on this docket soon.

CUB is also now a member of Smart Grid Oregon (SGO), a consortium of energy industry stakeholders and utilities who are seeking to advise the PUC and Legislature on emerging Smart Grid technologies and promote Smart Grid business opportunities. (CUB Board Member Kelly Cowan is also a staff researcher for SGO). CUB staff members have been attending SGO’s policy committee meetings for the past several months and have enjoyed some interesting discussions on smart meters, electric vehicles, and other topics. CUB’s membership in this organization gives us another platform from which we can advocate for ratepayer interests while forging partnerships with businesses and leading policymakers.

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