The Latest Thing to Get Smart Is Electricity Meters

Over the next five years, Con Edison is replacing 4.8 million electricity meters with smart meters – a digital device that transmits your energy consumption to Con Edison via a secure wireless network. Patty Kim, project manager for Con Edison’s advanced meter infrastructure group, explained on the Con Edison Plugged In podcast the difference between current meters and smart ones.

“A smart meter looks a lot like what our customers currently have,” Kim said on the podcast, “except it will allow for two-way communication, which means that we can interact with the meters at our customers’ homes. More importantly, it allows our customers to have access to their granular data in 15-minute intervals.” 

According to Con Edison: “Traditional meters and automated meters record total energy consumption, which we collect on a monthly basis. Smart meters record and transmit your energy consumption regularly throughout the day and will help us create a smart grid for the New York City area.” Smart meters will also immediately send alerts to Con Edison if there is a problem or an outage.

Great – but changing meters will probably be a major headache for a co-op or condo with more than a handful of units, won’t it? 

“They don’t have to really do anything,” Kim told Habitat recently. “About 90 days prior to going out to our customers to swap out the meters, they will be getting a postcard, and it simply states smart meters are coming. On the back, it has some brief benefits of what a smart meter is. About 45 days prior to getting the new smart meter, the customer will receive a letter with some instructions.” 

New York City and Los Angeles are several years behind the rest of the country in rolling out smart meters, says Kim, who adds that being late to the game has had its advantages. “Because we’re one of the largest utilities to roll this out, starting last year, we have the most advanced system. We are going to be offering what’s called near-real-time usage, where the customer can go onto ‘My Account,’ which is the same software or app that we’ve been using from Con Edison’s perspective. It’s about a 24-hour lag, so if I dialed in at 10:15 A.M. on Wednesday, I can see what I was using in 15-minute increments on Tuesday at 10:15 A.M.”

It gets even better: “As we keep advancing in this project, that near-time data will be available within about half an hour,” Kim says. “If it’s 10:15 now, if I were to dial in, and when this functionality does roll out, I’ll be able to see what I used at about 9:45. That’s what really sets us apart from all the other utilities.” Con Edison plans to roll out this feature in July or August of this year. 

In addition, Con Edison will eventually be implementing a revamped “time-of-use” program, one that other cities, including Chicago, have started to great effect. With such programs, consumers are encouraged to wait until low-demand times – usually late at night – to use energy-hogging appliances, such as dishwashers. 

All of the smart meters in the world won’t help reduce energy consumption if consumers don’t sign on to time-of-use pricing. Boards should consider holding informational meetings once they get their notice from Con Edison, to educate residents about smart meters, and to introduce the concept of time-of-use pricing and near-time data. To help, Con Edison plans to roll out various outreach programs to continue engaging customers after they receive their smart meter.