[November 21, 2011] Alliant, MidAmerican in no rush to embrace smart meters Tweet Nov 21, 2011 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Iowa's big electric utilities are in no rush to install smart meters, one of the key cogs in efforts to create a smarter electric grid that promote reliability and energy conservation. Smart meters are computerized electric or natural gas meters that are often linked wirelessly to a utility's data processing center. Options allowed by the technology let electric customers view their current electric consumption and electric pricing. They can also allow utilities to tell almost immediately which customers lost power in a storm, read electric meters remotely, and connect or disconnect electric service remotely. The functions add up to reduced costs for utilities which can be passed on to consumers. Smart meters can also help utilities offer variable time-of-day pricing, so that consumers will have a motivation to shift certain tasks such as dish and clothes washing to off-peak hours. Smart grid has been a priority of the Obama administration. The Department of Energy awarded 100 grants totaling $3.4 billion for smart grid projects. Many of them have been used to install smart meters in states like California, Texas, Maryland and Connecticut. Alliant Energy, the owner of Cedar Rapids-based Interstate Power & Light, has completed installation of more than 638,000 smart meters to service electric and gas customers at its Wisconsin Power & Light utility. Alliant went forward on that project in response to regulatory support and incentives from the State of Wisconsin, according to Scott Drzycimski, a spokesman for Interstate Power and Light. It has no timetable for installing smart meters in Iowa, he said. MidAmerican Energy, Iowa's largest regulated utility, has introduced a system that allows its natural gas meters to be read from passing trucks. The utility has no timetable for a deployment of electric smart meters. The lack of smart meter deployment plans was disclosed by both utilities in regulatory filings this month with the Iowa Utilities Board Their reasons for standing on the smart meter sidelines differed. The level of consumer complaints at utilities that installed smart meters concerned MidAmerican. "The customer complaints were typically related to radio frequency-related health impact, data privacy and security, overbilling, rate increases and meter reader job loss," MidAmerican said, citing a study by the SmartGrid Consumer Collaborative. Some states that originally required utilities to install smart meters are now allowing customers who pay an extra monthly fee to opt out of them, MidAmerican noted. The results show that utilities implementing smart meters must make an upfront investment in consumer education, it said. Alliant is concerned about rate impacts on customers, the changing technology curve in smart grid technology and lagging interoperability standards, the company said. "It will come eventually," Drzycimski said. "It's a key pice of the smart grid and being able to monitor usage." Alliant has not had much consumer backlash from its smart meter project in Wisconsin, Drzycimski said One of the more interesting sources of backlash against smart meters has been from a relatively small number of vocal customers who said their electric bills jumped after smart meters were installed. Drzycimski said it appears those cases involved the replacement of electric meters that were under-reading electric usage because they were malfunctioning with age. When the new smart meters were installed, the accurate measurements made it appear the customer was overbilled. The only place Alliant has deployed smart meters in Iowa has been Dubuque, where it is taking part in the City of Dubuque Smarter Electricity Project with IBM and the city government. About 1,000 electric smart meters were installed at homes in Dubuque. They deliver energy usage information over a two-way radio network. Customers who volunteered for the project can use analytical tools provided on a web portal to monitor their energy usage and find savings. Both utilities made it clear they see benefits in smart meter technology, when the time is right, and discussed a variety of smart grid investments they've made that aren't "customer-facing." Jerry McKim, chief of Iowa's Bureau of Energy Assistance, is in no hurry to see smart meters. "I see little or no direct benefit to consumers and a lot of risk," McKim said. "I can also see a lot of privacy and cyber security issues." McKim warned that ratepayers, in addition to paying for the smart meters through their rates, could be forced to pay for "stranded investment" in older meters the utilities no longer need. Iowa's Office of Consumer Advocate has argued for consumer protections in any smart meter deployments, staff attorney Jennifer Easler said, particularly insisting that costs to consumers should not outweigh the benefits. Alliant Energy requested state permission to accelerate cost recovery on existing electric meters in a 2009 rate case in preparation for smart meter investments, Drzycimski said. It withdrew the request in response to the Iowa Uitlities Board, which wanted to see a complete smart meter proposal first. Alliant has not made another request yet. Dubuque isn't the only city in Iowa deploying smart meters. Five municipal utilities across the state are deploying 5,450 smart meters and 13,800 programmable communicating circumstances in a $12.5 million project coordinated by the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities. The project received $5 million in federal assistance. In order to build a Smart Grid, we first had to lay the foundation for it. In late 2007 we began preparations to deploy AMI technology in our WPL service territory. That meant exchanging -- or retrofitting -- electric and natural gas meters throughout our WPL service territory with new AMI-enabled smart meters. As of August 1, 2010, we have exchanged and retrofitted more than 638,000 residential and small business meters. Our AMI efforts in our Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) service territory are dependent on regulatory timing and support. ___ (c)2011 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Visit The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at thegazette.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]