California continues to expect 17 million smart meters to be installed across the state by 2012, despite complaints by some residents about higher electric bills and electromagnetic radiation.
By 2011, the meters will provide energy use data in real time, and, this year, data can be transmited to monitoring services, says CPUC's Aloke Gupta.
Twelve million of them will be electric meters and 5 million will be gas, said Aloke Gupta, senior energy analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission.
The smart meter rollout is part of a $4.6 billion state project designed to bring new capabilities and flexibility to the electric grid. Adding these features will be especially important if electric cars catch on in the state and the electricity demand grows from daily car recharging.
But in the past several months, some residents have complained of bills that increased after the meters were installed. A suit is already pending against utility PG&E. Others worried aloud at public hearings that the meters gave off electromagnetic radiation.
The meters are hoped to let residents better manage the energy use. By 2011, they will provide energy use data in real time, instead of after the present 24-hour delay, Gupta said at the Grid ComForum in Silicon Valley. By the end of this year, they will be able to transmit data to third party companies providing energy monitoring and conservation services.
All three of the state’s large utilities are involved to varying degrees. PG&E is to install 10 million meters and claims it now oversees the largest smart meter deployment in the world. Its network, however, is likely to become eclipsed in the next several years by China, which wants to install up to 40 million meters annually.
The meters, being made by GE and Landis+Gyr, with networks provided by Silver Spring Networks, have transmitters that can communicate not just with utilitie but to appliances inside a home. The “radio” into the home is not yet activated yet, says Kenneth Abreu, principal resource analyst at PG&E. It will be in a year or two, he says.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
