Smart meters

Itron was selected by ERDF (Électricité Réseau Distribution France), electricity distribution network operator in France and distribution subsidiary of the Electricité de France Group (EDF), for its Linky smart grid program. Itron will be a major supplier of Linky smart meters for the first phase of the program. The Linky project aims to improve the distribution of electricity in France with an intelligent metering and communications network.

Echelon signed a definitive agreement to sell its grid operations to S&T AG, a publicly traded European IT systems provider. The companies expect the deal to close by the end of the year. Under the terms of the agreement, Echelon will receive approximately $5 million in upfront consideration, dependent in part on the value of net assets at closing. Echelon will also become a supplier of its narrowband high-reliability power line communications chips to S&T for use in their smart meters and related products.

British Gas announced a deal worth £600 million for Landis+Gyr to supply the majority of the 16 million smart meters British Gas will install in its customers' homes. By 2020 smart meters will be rolled out as standard to homes and businesses across the country as part of a government initiative.  

As part of its 10-year, $2.6 billion grid modernization program, ComEd began installation of more than 4 million smart meters throughout its service territory. ComEd expects to install 60,000 smart meters by the end of 2013. The full deployment will be complete in 2021.

Sensus was selected to provide the core communications technology to support the UK government’s plan to put smart meters in millions of homes and small businesses by 2020. Sensus technology will support the rollout of electric and gas smart meters to ten million locations in the northern region of Great Britain, subject to contract. The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that communications company Arqiva has been selected to provide the smart metering communications service for Northern England and Scotland.

Duquesne Light signed a contract with Itron for the deployment of Itron’s smart metering solution across the utility’s entire service territory. The contract signing follows approval from Duquesne Light’s board of directors and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PAPUC). Itron will replace the utility’s existing 625,000 electricity meters, implement back-office data collection software, supply critical network communications infrastructure, and provide comprehensive professional services.

ComEd selected GE to deliver approximately four million smart meters from 2013 to 2021 in a deal worth more than $200 million.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) authorized Detroit Edison to implement an AMI opt-out program. The commission approved the specifics of the opt-out proposal submitted by the utility, except that it reduced the associated charges recommended by the company, finding that the company’s forecasted participation rate was too low. For complete regulatory coverage, citations, and analysis, subscribe to Utility Regulatory News http://www.fortnightly.com/urn-subscribe

The Arizona Corporation Commission has reopened the record in a pending docket on advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to examine safety and health concerns regarding smart meters. In so doing, the commission said it was particularly interested in seeing any health studies that have been conducted since the evidentiary phase of the case had closed. The commission related that such submissions would help it determine if there was a compelling reason to continue the fact-gathering process before proceeding to the deliberations phase.