Residential Customers Are Open to the Smart Grid -- If It Will Save Them Money

A survey of 600 U.S. residential homes reveals that almost half have reported an increase in their electricity bill, due mostly to an increase in electricity consumption. Almost 60 percent of the homeowners who were surveyed say that they are willing to change their electricity use to save money. Among the thngs they are willing to do is enroll in a demand response program.

The survey was conducted and released by Frost & Sullivan. It is called "Smart Grid Market - A Customer Perspective on Demand Response", and it examines the motivations and probability of residential customers adopting demand response programs.

Demand response is a load power management program offered and controlled by either electric utilities or curtailment service providers. It is an important part of a smart grid, and it is expected to reduce the need for additional peak generation plants, as well as improve overall power quality and the environment.

"Customer awareness of smart grids appears moderately high, though awareness does not likely stem from the direct efforts of electric utility companies," states Frost & Sullivan Senior Energy Consultant Farah Saeed. "Only 16 percent of all surveyed residential electric customers are aware of any effort by their electric utility company to introduce smart grid technology into their community."

The survey notes a high probability of customers signing up for demand response if the customer has access to smart appliances. So-called smart appliances will be connected to the smart grid, allowing them to either shut-off or go into energy saving mode during peak power periods.

More than half the respondents said that they are either likely or somewhat likely to adopt smart appliances (59 percent). However, the majority plan to wait until their appliances come due for replacement (75 percent), rather than adopting smart appliances right away. Those willing to be early adopters also want rapid payback on these appliances: 79 percent want payback in two years or less, with only 7 percent not insisting on a payback at all.

For more information on this survey, please send an e-mail to Johanna Haynes, Corporate Communications, at johanna.haynes@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.

www.DaviesGreenEnergy.com

Smart Grid Will Reinvent and Revitalize Energy Efficiency for Retailers

Apogee Interactive founder and long-time industry expert Joel Gilbert advised national retailers to keep a close eye on the smart grid, saying "What was once price prohibitive is now going to be relatively easy, and this will reinvent and revitalize energy efficiency efforts for many retailers." Gilbert addressed the Edison Electric Institute annual conference for national accounts in Boston yesterday.

"The Smart Grid may enable smaller retailers to participate in deeper partnerships with their energy providers on price-responsive load and in tracking energy efficiency efforts," said Gilbert. This meeting marked Gilbert's 10th consecutive year to address EEI's National Accounts Conference comprised of more than 600 senior executives and facilities directors for national chain retailers such as Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Marriott, Starbucks and more.

He encouraged the retailers to pursue efficiency retrofits and renewable energy projects now saying, "Funding for energy initiatives are likely to peak this year, so it's time to get even more aggressive with what was once thought to be advanced technology. There may never be a better time to put together such energy projects."

Gilbert also noted the advent of devices from home automation and energy management system companies such as Control4 and others will make it easy and cost effective for small customers to easily manage their energy use. Apogee Interactive developed and licenses the energy analysis software that serves as the analytical engine for the control devices.

However, Gilbert did offer a word of caution, "The smart meters we all hear about may not be able to do decimal-level math and record fractional kilowatt hour use. Using whole number or integer-based meters is like trying to navigate around your neighborhood using an odometer without a tenth-of-a-mile digit."

Gilbert has observed the energy roller coaster for nearly four decades, through boom times and down turns, through cogeneration, deregulation and reregulation. "Today, energy suppliers, their customers, and trade allies will all have to work together as our country works through the details of our policies and politics on energy over this next year," Gilbert said. "We need true dialogue and not dogma to make this possible."

www.DaviesGreenEnergy.com

S&C Electric and Oracle to Develop Interoperable Smart Grid Systems

S&C Electric Company today announced that it is working with Oracle to develop and promote advanced distribution management systems for the Smart Grid. Designed to achieve interoperability between Oracle Utilities Network Management System and S&C's IntelliTEAM SG® Automatic Restoration System, the resulting integration will support utilities' Smart Grid build-outs. S&C and Oracle are demonstrating integrated solutions this week at DistribuTECH in Tampa, FL.

"Today's emerging Smart Grid deployments require that technologies work together to ensure efficient and reliable delivery of power," said Witold Bik, Vice President of S&C's Automation Systems Division. "We are excited to offer to our customers seamlessly integrated Smart Grid solutions that align S&C's distributed, time-critical feeder reconfiguration systems with Oracle's industry-leading network and asset management solutions."

S&C's teaming with Oracle is a significant step in the practical implementation of a fully interoperable, unified Smart Grid power delivery system. This effort will help expand the benefits of S&C's industry-leading IntelliTEAM II®, which has hundreds of installations worldwide, as well as the newly released S&C IntelliTEAM SG. The 3rd generation of S&C's self-healing, scalable, distributed intelligence-based fault isolation and reconfiguration system, IntelliTEAM SG offers the fastest restoration solution on the market.

"By combining our unique strengths, Oracle Utilities and S&C are taking an important step forward in meeting utilities' Smart Grid challenges," said Bradley Williams, Vice President, Product Strategy, Oracle Utilities. "Based on a common data model and easily integrated with Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management and Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing, this integrated solution will provide utilities with a wealth of information that helps improve network performance and customer satisfaction. Working together, we plan to provide safe, secure and reliable Smart Grid management systems, and help utilities manage the exponential growth of data."

S&C's expertise in Smart Grid distribution automation solutions complements Oracle Utilities' proven industry experience and mission-critical software applications, including Oracle Utilities Network Management System, Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management and Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management. The Oracle system helps utilities efficiently distribute power, improve network reliability and reduce outage durations. S&C Electric Company is a Gold member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork.

www.DaviesGreenEnergy.com

DOE Awards $200 Million Smart Grid Investment Grant to CenterPoint

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to receive a $200 million stimulus grant for its advanced metering system and intelligent grid projects. The agreement is the culmination of negotiations that began in November 2009 after the DOE selected CenterPoint Energy as one of six utilities to receive the maximum smart grid grant under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act.

"We are very pleased to have finalized this agreement with the DOE to help accelerate the deployment of our advanced metering system and fund the first phase of an intelligent grid," said Tom Standish, group president of Regulated Operations for CenterPoint Energy. "These funds will help deliver the benefits of smart meters and the intelligent grid to Houston-area electric consumers sooner while reducing the amount that they will have to pay for this significant upgrade to the electric grid."

The CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric grant application requested $150 million to accelerate its current installation of smart electric meters and associated equipment that make up its Advanced Metering System (AMS). The application also requested $50 million that will be used to begin building a self-healing Intelligent Grid that utilizes the AMS and other technologies to improve operational efficiency and power reliability in greater Houston.

Since March 2009, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric has installed more than 267,000 smart meters and, with the aid of the grant, expects to complete installation of over 2 million smart meters, along with the necessary communications infrastructure and computing systems, in 2012 rather than 2014 as originally planned. The initial Intelligent Grid deployment is expected to be completed in 2013.

www.DaviesGreenEnergy.com