When candidates running for Clark Public Utilities commissioner began debating policy initiatives at a recent Columbian Editorial Board meeting, they lingered on an obscure topic: advanced metering.
The metering infrastructure system, while still a few years away for Clark Public Utilities, is already in the works. Advanced metering, also known as smart metering, allows for two-way communications between customers’ meters and the utility.
“At any point, we can ask that meter for a read. And the meters will actually send regular information back to the utility,” said Julie Landry, technical innovations project manager at Clark Public Utilities.
Landry is running the utility’s effort to install a new advanced metering system countywide.
The utility is not an early adopter of the technology. About 72 percent of all electric meters in the U.S. used advanced metering infrastructure as of 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Technicians must drive within a few miles of customers to pick up readings using the current automated meter reading system.
This old one-way communication system, installed about 20 years ago, is coming to the end of its lifespan.
The utility’s board of commissioners set aside about $40 million in surplus funds from previous budget years, which will cover about half of the project’s total cost. The rest is expected to be funded by bonds and rates.
The new advanced metering technology will allow the utility to take readings of customers’ electricity use at regular intervals throughout the day from a central facility. Customers will likely be able to view their usage through their online account portal.
“Because of the way the communication tool works, we’ll get more information about our power quality and how things are going across the grid,” Landry said.
Instead of having to take spotlights out in the middle of the night to look for downed poles or power lines, crews will be able to use advanced metering to pinpoint the source of outages. The system will provide both the utility’s water and electric customers with more up-to-date feedback, so they’ll be able to tell sooner if they have a water leak or if their energy usage is exceedingly high.
In turn, the utility will be able to push updates and new functionality to customers’ meters without needing to be on the premises.
The utility won’t be able to access customers’ thermostats without permission. Some utilities, like Portland General Electric, have demand-response programs in which customers can agree to have their thermostats adjusted by a few degrees when demand on the grid is high. But the meters require access to customers’ wireless internet.
The utility might create incentive programs for customers based on the new advanced metering system’s near-real-time data, said Dameon Pesanti, Clark Public Utilities spokesman.
Such a program could encourage people to do their laundry in the afternoons or charge their electric vehicles at night, for example. (The utility is already offering a pilot project to encourage electric vehicle owners to charge their cars during nonpeak hours.)
“We haven’t built those programs, but the possibility for us to build them will be there,” Pesanti said.
These programs could lessen the need for the utility to pay peak pricing for electricity, thus saving both the utility and customers money, Pesanti added.
It will still be a few years before a Clark Public Utilities technician comes around setting up appointments to replace the nearly 240,000 meters countywide. That installation project will likely take about 1½ years, Landry said.
“While the meter is being replaced, there will be a momentary outage,” Landry added. “That’s why it’s very, very important that we’ll communicate.”
For now, the utility is going through the process of vetting vendors for the infrastructure system. That decision is expected to be made early next year.
