The Politics of AMR

The industry continues to debate the costs and technology of automated meter reading, even as some regulators insist on immediate implementation.

 

It is a choice, but might it soon be a mandate? Federal and state regulators-now more proactive after the industry credit crisis-want to know utility costs with precision (especially with all the rate increase requests recently), and they want to achieve conservation, market monitoring, or demand-side measures possible only through automated meter reading (AMR). Utilities that haven't adopted metering technology may soon be ordered to do just that.

Take Idaho Power, which went into a cost adjustment proceeding last year asking for a rate increase to spread over three years. Instead, it was ordered to recover costs in one year, and to adopt a 30-cent surcharge to look into issues relating to time-of-use (AMR implementation was not the initial focus), according to Idaho PUC officials. The Energy Efficiency Advisory Group (EEAG), established as a result of the Idaho PUC order, would examine how these policies might blunt future rate increases.

Furthermore, in two other cases,¹ the commission asked the EEAG to evaluate and report to the Idaho PUC on the viability of a time-of-use residential metering program by Sept. 12, 2002. After soliciting comments on Idaho Power's report, the commission declined to authorize residential time-of-use rates.