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Southern California Edison to Install Smart Meters in San Gabriel Foothill Communities Southern California Edison (SCE) will install smart electric meters throughout communities in the San Gabriel foothills as part of the Edison SmartConnect program.
SCE customers in neighborhoods from Arcadia to Sunland will receive new meters through the end of March. Customers with the smart meters will soon be able to take advantage of new programs and services enabled by the meters that will help them save energy, money and the environment.
Edison SmartConnect meters are digital, secure, two-way communicating devices that will replace traditional mechanical meters and provide a key step in transforming the electric system to a smart grid. Smart meters measure electricity usage up-to-the minute and, starting in the second half of 2010, customers will be able to view their energy usage from a computer, cell phone, or other electronic device to track how much they use and how much it costs.
“We have spent several years developing and testing our smart meters to ensure their quality and performance,” said Ken Devore, director of SCE’s Edison SmartConnect program. “Installing these new meters is key to providing our customers with new programs and services that will help them to become smarter energy consumers.”
Within the next year, SCE will roll out new pricing plans, programs and services that will empower customers to make better-informed decisions about their energy use. In the second half of 2010 and beyond, once the advanced features are fully activated, the meters will be enabled to communicate with the next generation of smart thermostats, appliances and other devices.
The first meter was installed in Downey, Calif., last September 14 and installations will continue through 2012 for nearly 5 million SCE residential and small-business customers in the utility’s 50,000-square-mile service territory. To date, SCE has installed nearly 300,000 meters.
Communities in the upcoming installation phase include Altadena, Arcadia, Baldwin Park, Bradbury, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Flintridge, Irwindale, La Cañada, La Crescenta, Monrovia, Montrose, San Gabriel, San Marino, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, Sunland, and Temple City.
SCE contracted with Corix Utilities, Inc. to perform most of the installations.
Edison SmartConnect is a $1.6 billion program authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission. SCE anticipates customers’ use of the information provided by the new meters will reduce demand on the electricity grid by about 1,000 megawatts, the amount of energy produced at an average power plant. Sustained energy conservation resulting from customer response to their energy use information is also expected to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and smog-forming pollutants by a minimum of 365,000 metric tons per year--the equivalent of removing 79,000 cars from the road. |
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