Smart Meters are instruments of surveillance that can monitor household and business activities with precision, based on patterns of power consumed. Control over energy production and distribution was an original goal of Technocracy in the 1930s. Currently, 60% of America is blanketed with these meters. ⁃ TN Editor
The Institute for Electric Innovation’s (IEI’s) new report, “Electric Company Smart Meter Deployments: Foundation for a Smart Grid,” identifies the innovations, benefits, and capabilities enabled by smart meters, and summarizes the deployments of smart meters to date.
“A major transformation of the energy grid is underway, and a key technology creating big changes for customers and electric companies continues to be smart meters,” said IEI Executive Director Lisa Wood. “Electric companies continue to find ways to create value from the data smart meters provide. Investing in smarter energy infrastructure, particularly in smart meters, is the foundation for a customer-facing, modern, and more resilient energy grid.”
As of the end of 2016, electric companies had installed 72 million smart meters – covering 55 percent of U.S. households. Based on survey results and approved plans, deployments are estimated to reach 76 million smart meters by the end of 2017 – covering about 60 percent of U.S. households – and are projected to reach 90 million by 2020.
The report also features examples of how electric companies are leveraging smart meter data to better monitor the health of the energy grid, more quickly restore service when outages occur, integrate distributed energy resources (DERs), and deliver energy solutions to customers.
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The Institute for Electric Innovation focuses on advancing the adoption and application of new technologies that will strengthen and transform the energy grid. The Institute’s members are the investor-owned electric companies that represent about 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry. The membership is committed to an affordable, reliable, secure, and clean energy future.