DTE Energy to Launch Advanced Metering Program
DETROIT, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ — DTE Energy today announced it will launch an advanced metering program to provide customers with more accurate meter reads every month, information about their energy usage and a system for recognizing power outages without customer input. Read the full article >>
Great job, DTE and Itron! This is clearly one of the better articles out there regarding a smart metering initiative because it takes the time to explain to end customers (in plain English, I might add) the real benefits of the program. Having the Utility know about an outage before customers start calling is something that phone and cable companies did in the 90’s. It’s about time, right? They also touch on something near and dear to all of us, our pocketbooks. The ability to read and monitor energy use in near real-time (which needs a communications network behind the scenes, don’t forget), can greatly improve estimated energy bill costs to help with monthly budgeting. If my Utility could help me understand the best time of day to do laundry, run the dishwasher, or schedule our pool filter, and could tell me how much money I’d save, chances are I’d make those changes in my household. If I’m saving money, and using energy at a time when the Utility has extra to spare, they then don’t have to start up a coal fire plant on short notice to crank out extra Kilowatts, I’m reducing carbon emissions…it seems like an obvious choice. Now, if we all do this, it will really add up. I also really like the part about working with the Unions and having a 6 year plan to re-deploy meter readers into new skill areas of work. Not enough companies have the foresight to do that sort of thing these days.
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