OG&E is investing in a new technology to help customers more efficiently manage energy use and costs to fit their lifestyles. It also helps OG&E offer even more reliable service in a cost effective manner and to maintain reasonable rates.
OG&E calls this our Positive Energy® Smart Grid program.
It uses a secure wireless network for two-way, real-time communication with smart meters installed on the outside of customer homes and, communicating programmable thermostats and touch-screen information panels inside customers’ homes. Information also will be made available to customers on a secure Internet portal.
While we believe smart grid technology is the foundation for the future for our industry, we are carefully identifying how it can best benefit our customers and our company.
The first step was a study begun in the summer of 2008, involving 6,600 smart meters installed in northwest Oklahoma City. We are able to remotely read customers’ meters, connect and disconnect service and know immediately if a customer has experienced a power outage. About 25 of those customers received touch-screen information panels and communicating programmable thermostats, allowing them to see what electricity is costing each hour of the day so they can make informed decisions about their electricity use.
Our next step in 2010 is installation of 42,000 smart meters on customer homes in Norman, Okla., and the installation of the information delivery infrastructure to carry the information to and from the customers and OG&E. An estimated 3,000 Norman customers will be asked to participate in a study in the summer of 2010 and 2011 using the in-home devices and/or Internet portals as a means to get electricity pricing and usage information.
OG&E received notice October 27, 2009, that its application for $130 million in smart grid stimulus funds has been approved, pending negotiations with the Department of Energy in November. The company will seek state regulatory approval for recovery of the remaining costs of the almost $300 million deployment across its entire service territory over the next three-five years.
At the same time we’re working with our employees and knowledgeable industry partners on a plan to expand smart grid to customers in our entire 30,000 square mile service territory.
More information about the OG&E customers and employees involved in the Oklahoma City smart grid study can be viewed at General Electric’s Website at www.itsyoursmartgrid.com.
