The other wrong question is to ask why the bills have gone up.  The reason is that, without a controlled experiment, it is impossible to determine the answer.  There are too many variables: rates change, temperatures change, household occupants change, household appliances change (how about that new big screen television?), and even billing periods change (ranging from 27 to 33 days for a monthly bill).

Here’s the right question: are bills for customers with smart meters any different from bills for customers without smart meters?  The simple way to find out is by selecting a statistically valid random sample of customers with smart meters and customers without smart meters, then comparing the two groups.  Because I know the meters are accurate, I know what the result of this test will be: both groups will show the same changes, because the changes are from all those other factors, not from the meter.  People’s gasoline bills go up because they drive more or pump prices go up, not because the pumps are changed.

But, you say, what about the information feedback from smart meters that will lower consumption?  Good point, but that information is not being delivered yet.  We’ll see those savings, but not immediately.

Stay tuned for more on getting smart meter benefits to consumers.

San Mateo, CA — March 9, 2010 – eMeter, the global leader in Smart Grid Management software, today announced that the PowerCentsDC program it designed and managed in partnership with Pepco and Smart Meter Pilot Program, Inc (SMPPI), has won the “Best Pricing and Demand Response Program” award from the Association for Energy Service Professionals (AESP). The program is the first pilot in the electric utility industry to test the response of residential customers to three distinct dynamic pricing options under one program.

“We’re extremely honored to be receiving this award from such a distinguished body of utility professionals,” said Chris King, Chief Regulatory Officer at eMeter and President of eMeter Strategic Consulting. “The PowerCentsDC program confirms our long-held conviction that smart energy pricing and demand response will lead to significant changes in consumer behavior.”

The PowerCentsDC program involved approximately 1,000 Pepco customers in the District of Columbia from July 2008 to October 2009. Participating residential customers were given the choice between hourly pricing, critical peak pricing, and critical peak rebates and received detailed monthly energy reports and smart thermostats in an effort to help them better understand and manage their energy use.

“We worked with eMeter to design a program with variables that had never been tested together,” said Rick Morgan, DC Public Service Commissioner and SMPPI chairman. “We believe PowerCentsDC is an important step forward as it demonstrates the potential benefits of dynamic pricing for the consumer.”

eMeter partnered with Pepco and SMPPI to deliver, operate, and manage a fully-integrated solution. The solution included smart meters, smart thermostats, and eMeter’s consumer engagement software solution, Energy Engage™. Through the program website, customers had access to relevant, up-to-date information regarding their electricity usage, costs and their carbon footprint. Sixty-three percent of respondents indicated that the program helped motivate them to use less electricity overall and 68 percent indicated it made them more aware of their environmental impact of their energy usage.

Consumers participating in the PowerCentsDC program reduced summer peak demand in response to the dynamic pricing options. The critical peak pricing group, which allowed customers to be notified the day prior to critical peak price, cut their overall energy consumption between 22 and 34 percent. In addition to reducing peak demand on critical peak days, participants also saved an average of 8 percent on their electric bills during the testing period.

When polled, more than 82 percent of customers cited “saving money” as their primary motivation for participating in the pilot, with 72 percent claiming the difference between hourly prices was large enough to provide incentives for them to shift electrical usage to cheaper, “off-peak” periods.

About Association of Energy Service Professionals (AESP)
Founded in 1989 as a not-for-profit association, the Association of Energy Services Professionals is a member-based association dedicated to improving the delivery and implementation of energy efficiency, energy management and distributed renewable resources. AESP provides professional development programs, a network of energy practitioners, and promotes the transfer of knowledge and experience.

About eMeter
eMeter provides essential software that enables electric, gas and water utilities to realize the full benefits of Smart Grid. Leading utilities worldwide depend on eMeter Smart Grid Management software to reduce operational costs, improve customer service, and drive energy efficiency. With the most large-scale deployments in the industry and strategic partnerships with Accenture, IBM, Logica, and Siemens, eMeter has built a reputation for unparalleled expertise that ensures customer success. For more information visit: www.emeter.com.

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Media Contacts:
Kyle Arteaga
(415) 218-5569
kyle.arteaga@emeter.com

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Three makers of solar cells topped the list, including Solyndra Inc. of Fremont, Calif.; Suniva Inc. of Norcross, Ga.; and eSolar Inc. of Pasadena, Calif. Other notables on the Top 10 Cleantech list include two eco-friendly car makers — Fisker Automotive Inc. of Irvine, Calif., and Tesla Motors Inc. of San Carlos, Calif.— and Philadelphia’s RecycleBank LLC, which provides rewards programs to motivate people to recycle.

“We’re not saying all ten of these companies will be blockbuster successes,” said Alan Murray, deputy managing editor and executive editor, online of The Wall Street Journal. “But we do think there’s a good chance that one of these promising companies will be The Next Big Thing in Clean Technology.”

The Next Big Thing: The Top 10 Clean Technology Companies include:

1) Solyndra Inc. – Fremont, Calif.
2) Suniva Inc. – Norcross, Ga.
3) eSolar Inc. – Pasadena, Calif.
4) RecycleBank LLC – Philadelphia
5) Boston-Power – Westborough, Mass.
6) Fisker Automotive Inc. – Irvine, Calif.
7) eMeter Inc. – Sun Mateo, Calif.
8) Serious Materials Inc. – Sunnyvale, Calif.
9) Silver Spring Networks Inc. – Redwood City, Calif.
10) Tesla Motors Inc. – San Carlos, Calif.

A team from research firm Dow Jones VentureSource (owned by Dow Jones & Company, publisher of the Journal) calculated the rankings, applying a set of financial criteria to some 350 U.S.-based venture-backed businesses in clean technology valued at less than $1 billion. Companies that make everything from fuel cell technologies to carbon-management software were analyzed according to four financial criteria: the track records of success for both a company’s founders and management; track records for the investors on its board; the amount of capital raised in the last three years; and the percentage change in a company’s valuation in the 12 months ended Nov. 30. Dow Jones reporters and editors who cover the venture capital industry also provided their perspective and expertise beyond the numbers.

On March 9, the Journal will publish its first ranking of venture-funded companies — The Next Big Thing: The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies, which will identify the firms across all industries, valued at less than $1 billion that show the biggest promise of take-off.

Dow Jones VentureSource tracks more than 38,000 venture-backed companies in the U.S., Canada, Europe, China and India, as well as over 14,000 private investment firms world-wide

About eMeter

eMeter provides essential software that enables electric, gas and water utilities to realize the full benefits of Smart Grid. Leading utilities worldwide depend on eMeter Smart Grid Management software to reduce operational costs, improve customer service, and drive energy efficiency. With the most large-scale deployments in the industry and strategic partnerships with Accenture, IBM, Logica, and Siemens, eMeter has built a reputation for unparalleled expertise that ensures customer success. For more information visit: www.emeter.com.

###

Media Contact:
Kyle Arteaga
Global Head of Corporate Communications
eMeter Corporation
2215 Bridgepointe Parkway Suite 300
San Mateo, CA 94404
+1(415) 218-5569
kyle.arteaga@emeter.com

On 60 Minutes last night, Bloombox described a fantastic new fuel cell powered generator that could be installed potentially in every home. If their claims are true and they achieve their price and performance targets, then Bloombox will result in a vast expansion of distributed generation. This substantially increases the need for and value of smart grid data management and transaction management software to monitor, manage, and control the grid. This is because utility planners will have much more difficulty in planning and operating the grid.

However, this is just as likely not to occur. The reason is basic economics. Even if Bloombox can achieve their price target of $3,000, that price is still higher than the cost for a utility to provide the same power plant using today’s technology (assuming a 3 kW Bloombox, the cost is $1,000 per kW; this is more than a Combined Cycle Combustion Turbine natural gas-fired power plant). If the Bloombox actually converts natural gas to electricity more efficiently than existing technology, there will still be scale economies by having larger units constructed and operated by utilities.

Finally, reliability is much higher for electricity from the grid. If I have a Bloombox in my basement and it fails, I am both out of power and faced with the need to get it fixed. My life is simply much easier, less expensive, and more reliable by taking power from the grid.

But they do have a great vision.

Ralph argued the case for decoupling of utility revenues and profits.  For 100 years, utilities have earned more by selling more.  Decoupling is a new regulatory mechanism that allows utilities to earn the same or higher profits when they succeed in reducing energy sales, plus a profit bonus for exceeding conservation targets.  I pointed out that this formula is fine for a year or two, but how does a utility grow?  How does Paul Bonavia turn a 22% reduction in kWh sales into a success in 2020 when Wall Street is demanding ever-increasing earnings?

The issue is crucial, because the single biggest benefit of the Smart Grid and smart meters is energy conservation.  Conservation, based on the studies, will deliver 10% lower bills and carbon emissions from education, feedback, and behavior – and another 10%, for a total of 20% savings, from smart thermostats and smart appliances over the next decade (providing those markets take off).

Ralph’s answer to my query was that decoupling must be accompanied by a somewhat complex profit adjustment mechanism, so utilities continue to benefit and can grow earnings over the years.  While the complexity is a challenge, the good news is that 10 states have solved the problem for electricity and 18 for gas.

I have to admit I wasn’t fully convinced of the solution.  But I am convinced that the energy efficiency industry is committed to the hard work needed to come up with a better one.  Hard work that I’ll continue to work with Ralph and others on.

While encouraging, these data put the U.S. behind many other countries, who have committed to 100% deployment by 2020.  These include China, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, and the U.K.  U.S. policymakers should take note for competitiveness and other reasons.

More details are at http://www.edisonfoundation.net/iee/issueBriefs/IEE_SmartMeterRollouts_update.pdf.

In its “soft launch,” the Texas portal began accepting 15-minute interval data from all 710,000 smart meters already installed by the four large investor-owned Texas distribution utilities, which include CenterPoint Energy, Oncor, AEP-Texas, and Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP).  Data are collected and updated daily.  Most of the meters online are from CenterPoint and Oncor (recall that in December, CenterPoint became the first utility in the world to begin providing residential interval data for wholesale market settlement).

When additional features of the portal go live shortly, retailers will be able to use the portal’s API (application programming interface) to extract data for their customers and present it on the retailer’s website.  Consumers will also have the ability to designate one or more authorized recipients to receive their metering data, potentially including retailers who would like to make special offers based on the actual data.

For consumers in Texas, the promise of smart meters is steadily becoming a reality.

The IRS addressed the issue in a private letter ruling made public by the Maine Public Utility Commission in Docket No. 2007-215 Phase II for Central Maine Power. The letter ruling, issued by Paul Handleman, Office of Associate Chief Counsel for Passthroughs and Special Industries, analyzes in detail the applicable tax laws and several tax court rulings relevant to the issue. It found as follows: “(1) The payments from Government to the taxpayer pursuant to the Program for the Plant are a nonshareholder contribution to the capital of Taxpayer under section 118(a) excluded from Taxpayer’s gross income under Section 61; and (2) The basis of the Plant’s capital assets acquired by Taxpayer with the money from the Program that is contributed by Government shall be reduced in accordance with the provisions of section 362(c) and the regulations thereunder.”

In plain English, this means the grants do not increase taxable income, they are “excluded from Taxpayer’s gross income”. Instead, the money provided for smart meter and smart grid equipment and installation is credited directly to the utility’s capital accounts. This means the utility cannot depreciate the assets, which would result in tax savings on plant actually paid for by the government. (Of course this ruling applies only to investor-owned utilities; municipal utilities and cooperatives do not pay income taxes.)

This tax issue illustrates yet again the central role of regulators and policymakers in society realizing the benefits for smart meters and smart grids.

The good news is that the tax issue should not be a problem for utilities receiving smart grid grants.

Disclaimer: this is a great precedent for other smart grid grant recipients. However, because I am not a lawyer, I cannot comment on its legal applicability to other utilities. I also understand that private letter rulings, according to the IRS, technically apply only to the recipient of the ruling. Having said that, there is no reason the logic and analysis above would not apply to other smart grid grant recipients. In acting on this issue, each utility should follow the advice of its own counsel.

DistribuTECH takes an in depth look at the fundamental principles and newest technologies shaping the industry today.

March 23-25, 2010
Tampa Convention Center
Tampa, Florida

eMeter will be showcasing our Smart Grid Management software products – the award winning Energy Engage and EnergyIP, the industry’s leading Meter Data Management system delivering event-driven information and automation in real-time to integrate utility operations and manage the Smart Grid.
Come visit us in booth #441

Schedule an Appointment
Please fill out the form below to schedule an appointment with the eMeter executive during the show.

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As a way to say thank you for coming to see us, we’ve arranged for you to get a free exhibit hall pass, a $75 value. Register online at www.distributech.com or www.utilityproductsexpo.com

For a free exhibit hall pass, use the source code: DTUP-ET