Smart meters coming to Fort Smith

The national push to implement “smart” technology to the electric power grid and meters on buildings is expected to arrive in the Fort Smith area by the spring/summer of 2012.

Brian Alford, spokesman for Oklahoma City-based OG&E, said a smart-grid system evolved from one first tested in Oklahoma City in late 2008 will rollout in Fort Smith no later than summer of 2012.

OG&E, which provides electric power to 765,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, selected the pilot program location in northwest Oklahoma City due to the area’s historically high number of service calls, approximately 10,000 per year.

The company said in early 2009 it would take up to 7 years to provide smart meter access to all its customers.

As electricity demands spiked nationwide — primarily to increased business and home use of electronics — and costs to generate electricity increased, utilities and governments turned to smart grid systems to encourage users to better monitor and, ideally, lower electric usage.

A June 13 report from J.D. Power and Associates indicates that only 8% of utility customers nationwide use smart meters. The report also indicates that customers who are aware of smart grids and smart meters, and their utility’s efforts to implement them, are notably more satisfied than are customers without this awareness.

“While this marks an auspicious beginning for smart meter and smart grid programs, gaining widespread consumer acceptance is incumbent upon successful consumer education, adoption and engagement with the technology,” David Steele, senior director of the smart energy practice at J.D. Power and Associates, said in the statement. “It’s imperative for energy providers to understand the actual drivers of effective program design and customer communications that will lead consumers to engage with these new options and services.”

IDC Energy Insights reports that smart meter manufacturers shipped 5 million devices worldwide during the first quarter of 2011, up 22.7% compared to the 2012 period. IDC predicted smart meters would soon become standard in the North American market, “with small and mid-market utilities” joining the trend.

Pike Research estimates that metered “home energy management systems” will total 63 million worldwide by 2020, up from just 1 million in 2011.

The Obama Administration recently announced several “Grid Modernization Initiatives” designed to essentially digitize electric information data for the consumer, utilities and others involved in production and distribution of electricity. Part of the program includes a $250 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service to help modernize the system in rural America.

“These efforts build upon the historic $4.5 billion in grid modernization investments provided for in the Recovery Act — matched by contributions of more than $5.5 billion from the private sector — to modernize America’s aging energy infrastructure and provide cleaner and more reliable power,” noted this statement (PDF) from the White House.

Link here to Smart Grid News for updates on smart-grid and meter development.