Smart meters are modernizing our aging electric grids, here’s how

(InvestigateTV) — Utility companies nationwide have invested in digital meters that can detect power outages instantly and relay real-time data to operators, according to research from MIT that found the devices reduced outage duration by more than 5% in Texas.

The electric grid is essential to the U.S. economy, national security and public health and safety. But much of it was built in the 1960s and 70s, and the aging infrastructure is struggling to meet modern needs.

Extreme weather events have added stress to an already overloaded system, leaving communities vulnerable to power outages.

Over the last 15 years, utility companies have replaced analog meters with smart meters, digital devices now connected to more than 70% of homes in the U.S.

How smart meters work

“Right now, there’s a lot of communication that has to happen between OPPD and the customer to know when there’s an outage,” said Mike Iwanski with Omaha Public Power District.

The advanced metering infrastructure can measure electric consumption in real time and remotely relay that data to the utility company.

“It’s tracking information pretty much continuously,” said Luis Pizano with Eversource, an energy provider in Massachusetts.

Pizano said smart meters can help identify the moment a power outage occurs and give energy providers time to “react more effectively, and understand the extent of outages.”

“Once AMI is in, we’ll have visibility to the edge of our systems to say, that customer’s still out and still having issues, let’s roll a truck,” Iwanski said.

Research findings

MIT Assistant Professor Jacquelyn Pless is part of a team studying the impact of installed smart meters. They found companies that deployed the devices saw an improvement in distribution.

“Everyday life and economic activity really depends on having a high quality, reliable supply of electricity,” Pless said.

“Our research is showing that smart meters can really enable utilities to improve performance and quality of service,” she said. “Smart meters don’t just passively collect data, they actively can reshape utility decisions.”

To understand how smart meters affected the consistency of electricity supply, researchers zeroed in on Texas and found the length of outages decreased by more than 5%.

“It suggests that they are using the smart meters and kind of these automated signals around when and where an outage occurs to improve reliability by restoring service faster after disruptions do occur,” Pless said.

Pless said they did not find a change in outage frequency. But she said companies can make what she calls complementary investments to help avoid outages in the future by using the data to identify failing equipment.

Financial impact

Research also found electrical companies saw about a 1% increase in revenue. This is partly due to a more accurate measurement by smart meters, as analog meters can slow as they age. Also, not as many technicians are needed in the field to manually record the readings.

“Their financial performance is very important for improving quality of service because they need to have financial viability in order to invest in the grid,” Pless said.

Iwanski said the upgrades require thoughtful decision making to see the benefits.

“We want to be good stewards of the money our customers put in, right? It is a big expense to exchange all of those meters out,” he said. “It’s not something that we can just do every five years and so it’s something that we want to plan and make sure we’re doing it correctly.”

Beyond electricity

Smart meters can also be used to measure water or gas consumption.

Edward Espinoza with Atmos Energy, a natural gas company based in Texas, said smart meters can make operations more efficient without straining their current workforce. He said having usage information faster can be critical in an emergency, such as a gas leak.

“There’s a large increase in consumption for whatever reason. That will give us some information to send out a technician to your home just to investigate, just to make sure that everything is okay with your system,” Espinoza said.

If it senses abnormal conditions, a smart meter that monitors gas can also shut off automatically.

Consumer concerns and opt-out options

The consumer advocacy group PIRG argues the billions spent on these smart rollouts often benefit utility profits more than customers, whose rates could ultimately end up paying for the upgrades or who haven’t always seen the possible savings.

A smart meter will have a digital screen instead of small dials. Most utility companies have an opt-out option, but there will likely be a fee to reinstall the manual meter as well as monthly fees up to $30 or more to have a technician read it.

Pless said smart meters are just part of the solution to modernizing the power grid.

“So installing more meters really it alone not going to be enough. The real benefits come when utilities make use of that data to improve operations, reliability and customer service,” she said.