FAQs
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Right now, it's fairly basic.
Fort Collins Utilities is upgrading mechanical electric and water meters in homes, schools and businesses throughout the community with electronic devices that will enable two-way digital communication between the meter and the utility.
The meter upgrade will involve replacing electric meters and installing transmitters on water meters.
The new meters will provide wireless communication between meters and the utility, eliminating the need to send a technician to customers' homes and businesses to manually read meters. Meters of over 500 of our larger commercial customers have been read this way since 1995.
Meter replacement is expected to begin in early 2012 and will take more than a year to complete. Customers will be notified prior to the installation.
Utilities will read the meters for the utility services Fort Collins Utilities provides to your home or business.
In the future, a website and online portals will provide usage information for customers who want to review their data. Each customer will have access only to their own data. This online view of usage is projected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Existing mechanical electric meters will be replaced with electronic meters, and a transmitter will be installed on water meters. This will allow two-way communication between the meters and the utility, giving customers data that will allow them to better understand and manage utility use and costs. It also allows the Utilities to provide better service to our community.
There will be immediate system and operational advantages from the meter upgrade. While customers won't actually see many of the early benefits, additional customer benefits will emerge over time, including increased flexibility and options to manage utility use. To start with, the new meters will:
- provide more timely customer service
- prepare the utility and the community for emerging technologies
- use information and technology to maintain high system reliability
- make utility operations even more cost-effective
There are several other benefits we anticipate. Many of these represent choices and more control for customers. The project will:
- improve our ability to provide and restore electric and water service by responding more quickly and efficiently to outages
- efficiently manage pipes and wires (making better use of the community's utility assets)
- enable quick service turn on/turn off when customers move
- read meters remotely
- provide early water leak detection
- support better customer service in responding to high use questions
- help meet our community's goals for resource conservation and environmental sustainability
- provide enhanced billing capabilities and voluntary programs to assist customers
The immediate impact will be related to upgrading all meters currently in service. Our studies indicate that automation of this system will:
- take 22 vehicles off the road through meter reader savings
- eliminate just less than 200,000 vehicle miles and 2,700 customer service calls annually and result in a reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 67 metric tons
The cost of the electric portion of the project is $31.4 million. A three-year, $15.7 million matching grant through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is helping to finance half of this portion of the project. The balance of the electric project expense is being paid by bonds to enable the costs to be spread-out over a longer time period so that Utilities can take advantage of project savings to recover the cost.
In addition, the water meter project is budgeted for $4 million. Grant funds are not available for the water portion of the project.
In 2009, the federal government, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, announced the investment of $3.4 billion of stimulus money on 100 smart-grid projects in 49 states. This injection of capital will make electricity delivery more reliable and help consumers use energy more efficiently. Improving the infrastructure will also allow the country to use more solar and wind power.
No. Project savings will cover the costs.
Other factors will influence utility rates in coming years, including purchase power costs, which are linked to:
- the cost of fuel for generating electricity
- the cost of chemicals for water treatment
- changing regulatory requirements
- infrastructure maintenance
- system upgrades
The benefits of upgrading the meter system—which includes system efficiency, increased customer choice and positive environmental impacts—are important aspects in continuing to serve our community well. After developing a thorough business case, we have determined that this represents a positive economic return and a solid investment for the community's future.
There are many reasons this is the right time to pursue this project, including:
Customer Service: Utilities has long been at the forefront of the industry in striving to provide high levels of customer service. Examples:
- High electric reliability from the electric line undergrounding program
- High water quality resulting from best practices followed in water treatment
System Operations: Enhanced communications and control of the utility system enable improved system operations and environmental benefits.
- fewer customer service calls, system efficiency, potential avoidance of need for new generation; consistent with the Utilities for the 21st Century
Funding Support: Fort Collins Utilities is self-funded through the rates collected for services. Savings from this project will pay for the costs of this effort. The timing of the project is also designed to take advantage of a matching grant from the federal government's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Utilities considered this project on its merits before federal stimulus funding became available through the ARRA grant. The benefits of upgrading the meter system – which includes system efficiency, increased customer choice and positive environmental impacts – are important aspects in continuing to serve our community well. After the development of a thorough business case, we determined that this represents a positive economic return and a solid investment for the community's future. The original business case before the grant was a sound financial decision that would continue to support the needs of Fort Collins Utilities customers for many years beyond the payback horizon. The fact that Utilities received the ARRA grant that covers 50 percent of the cost made the timing just about perfect.
Fort Collins Utilities is among 100 utilities nationwide to receive a grant to develop a "smart" utility grid for advanced metering. The Fort Collins grant award includes participation from the City of Fountain. These projects are independent of each other, with each city covering its own share of project expenses.
In our region, Fort Collins–Loveland Water District, Poudre Valley REA and Colorado Springs Utilities are implementing similar advanced metering programs even though they are not grant recipients.
Many lessons have been learned about advanced metering projects and related applications from projects throughout the country. Fort Collins is taking advantage of both positive and negative experiences in other communities to guide our project and ensure its success. We are also using experienced resources as needed to assist with the project. We are convinced that the benefits are significant and build towards our community's future.
The Smart Grid City project in Boulder was a pilot program of Xcel Energy. Xcel had a difficult time placing fiberoptic cables underground because of the rocky ground, which caused cost and schedule overruns. Fort Collins Utilities' electric distribution system is 99.9% underground already, and we have an extensive fiberoptic network in place. Also this project is not a pilot program. It is being built with proven technology, equipment and applications.
Currently, many devices emit RF transmission in public buildings and homes, including cell phones and towers, cordless phones, baby monitors, garage door openers, wireless internet routers, and microwave ovens. Wireless networks already exist downtown, at the hospital, public libraries and in private businesses in Fort Collins. Studies show that these sources emit higher levels of RF than advanced meters.
The City has made arrangements with Dr. Cooper of the Health District of Northern Larimer County to conduct an independent assessment of available research on the health related risks from advanced meters. Dr. Cooper provided a summary of his findings in the Review of Health Effects Related to Smart Meters (PDF 43KB) and responded to questions at the July 12 City Council Work Session.
Normal operating practice will be to measure energy or water use in intervals ranging from 15 minutes to one hour.
In addition, a snapshot of meter data may be requested on demand (this is often called "pinging") in order to quickly answer customer questions or occasionally troubleshoot system issues. This capability represents a significant financial savings and environmental benefit because we can do this without sending a technician to the customers' site.
An example of this capability will be responding to customer calls about individual home power outages. In the course of the call, it can be determined if power is on at the meter or not. Many times a customer power outage is caused by a circuit breaker in the customer's home. By "pinging" the meter, faster, higher-quality service can be provided without sending crews out to assess the problem.
The meter will transmit data at times throughout the day. This data will then post to the billing system once a day.
No, the detail of the data from advanced metering cannot detect the presence of people in their homes. Advanced metering simply measures the consumption of electricity and water.
No, participation in all such programs will be strictly voluntary. The advanced metering project will allow customer choice, money-saving opportunities, and the opportunity to reach our city sustainability goals.
Thermostat controls would require a special thermostat that the customer must elect to install if they wish to participate in a voluntary program. Future equipment, thermostat, or appliance communication capabilities and appliance behavior will be strictly controlled by the customer.
No. Fort Collins Utilities takes this issue very seriously and complies with all local, state and federal regulations to protect our customers' personal data and information. All customer information—including personal information, bill payment type or status, utility use, and more—are strictly protected.
Fort Collins Utilities is subject to the Colorado Open Records Act and Fort Collins Municipal Code §26-26, which govern the accessibility of public records.
Utilities is also subject to the FACT Act (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003), which requires federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, to establish guidelines for use by creditors to prevent identity theft. In 2007, the FTC published the "Red Flags Rules" requiring that creditors create and implement a program to address the detection, prevention, and mitigation of identity theft. As a creditor, Fort Collins Utilities implemented an identity theft prevention program under the Red Flag Rules, which went into effect December 31, 2010.
Through this project, the City is already taking additional measures to routinely perform comprehensive assessment of all identifiable security threats and risks so that it can secure its network and data by fully implementing the Cyber Security Plan submitted to, and approved by, the federal government. The City is also enforcing the same stringent standards on all project/utility vendors. The City will be audited by the federal government to ensure all necessary precautions have been implemented.
Initially, investing in advanced meters will save the labor and operational expenses of reading meters. Fort Collins Utilities is working with meter readers to provide training and skill development for other jobs. Several meter readers have already found new positions of their choosing; we continue to work with the others during this transition. As the project progresses, business processes will change and may affect other Utilities jobs.