6/27/96
METER OWNERSHIP & INFORMATION ISSUE
ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVE
TO: DIRECT ACCESS WORKING GROUP
Sub-Group "C"
Metering & Communications
Prepared By: Chris S. King, CellNet Data Systems, Inc.
chrisk@cellnet.com
Phone: 415-508-6017, Fax: 415-508-6900
The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternate perspective on meter ownership that focuses on customer equity and lowest cost.
ISSUE STATEMENT: The issue of meter ownership involves several public policy issues, including customer privacy and equal access to the benefits of industry restructuring by all customers. Metering technology issues are highly complex, particularly when combined with the communications needed for efficient metering and support of the settlements process (daily metering). UDCs have traditionally been responsible for maintaining meters, including accuracy, reliability, and customer privacy. UDCs have also developed significant expertise in metering and communications issues. In addition, with new metering technologies that integrate communications with hourly interval metering and reuse existing meters, there are cost considerations related to how metering is deployed. With saturation or near saturation, metering costs per customer decline substantially, particularly for the 90 percent of customers situated in or near metropolitan areas in California. Finally, metering is closely linked to other UDC functions, including maintaining system reliability (outage and restoration) and distribution system planning. Some metering systems, those that are based on communications networks, support multiple distribution functions, including turn-on/off, credit and collections, load research, energy theft management, and outage management. Other meter systems provide no or limited support of these functions.
The issue is whether utilities should retain the metering charter, with the result that regulated UDC's can achieve scale economies and ensure data privacy, accuracy, reliability, and equal access to all parties, or whether the benefits of competition for the metering charter offset the higher costs and added complexity in regulatory monitoring of a competitive metering environment. Another option is an "Infoco" monopoly. This approach results in a loss of some economies of scale, since the Infoco would not provide electricity distribution functions but only data collection, but such a monopoly, would maintain many economies of scale. Issues include what body should regulate a monopoly Infoco, since no regulatory structure currently exists and whether an Infoco has advantages or disadvantages relative to a UDC metering monopoly.
METER OWNERSHIP & CUSTOMER INFORMATION ISSUES
ISSUE UDC OWNERSHIP INFOCO MONOPOLY CUSTOMER CHOICE
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Hourly interval meters are UDC's have the expertise INFOCO could obtain some Customers have little or no
required for customers who needed to evaluate complex economies of scale, including expertise in metering.
wish to purchase electricity metering options, the skills network-based metering and Customers realize no economies
on a real-time basis and take needed to manage complex large-scale purchases. INFOCO of scale. Information
advantage of electricity price implementation, and achieve also gets economies associated requirements are virtually the
variations at different times economies of scale through (1) with metering gas and water, same for all customers (hourly
of day and in differerent large-scale purchases, (2) but loses economies associated metering), and customers could
seasons. Scale economies network-based approaches that with multiple UDC functions. get additional information by
result in the lowest cost to allow reuse of existing There is no current regulatory installing meters behind the
the customer. Some U.S. meters, and (3) integration of structure, so laws would have billing meter (as many have
utilities have found the scale metering with other UDC to be passed and regulations already done). Metering
economies so effective that functions, including promulgated to regulate an suppliers, without regulation,
they are deploying Network turn-on/off; energy theft; INFOCO. will charge "what the market
Meter Reading, capable of monitoring accuracy, safety, will bear," which will be in
hourly metering at very little and reliability; line losses; excess of actual costs.
incremental cost, to all or distribution planning; and
most of their customers based outage detection and
on operating savings alone. restoration.
Accurate information is The CPUC already has accuracy, No INFOCOs exist, so none have Customers are interested in
essential to permit billing privacy, and reliability experience. A new regulatory accurate information but have
for services by the UDC, ISO, standards. UDC's have complied body would have to set no economic incentive to
PX, and retailers. with these standards for many standards and regulations to report underrecording of
decades. UDCs must meet these ensure the standards are met. metered energy. Since the UDC
standards or face CPUC is responsible for line
penalties. losses, only the UDC is
damaged by underrecording of
energy usage.
Customer safety and electric The CPUC has specified, and INFOCOs would have no While new meters would have to
system integrity must be UDCs have complied with, experience in safety and meet standards, there is no
assured. standards for safety for many electric system integrity. mechanism to ensure that a
decades. UDCs are financially Customers would have no meter would continue to be
liable for failure to maintain recourse to the INFOCO for safe after many years.
a safe system. damages resulting from unsafe Otherwise, same as INFOCO.
metering.
Access to customer information CPUC regulation requires UDC's A totally separate but Customers could limit data
is required for development of to "separate" competitive regulated INFOCO would sharing resulting in unequal
competitive markets and enterprises from their eliminate the potential for access and inhibited
pursuit of informed customer regulated business to UDC market abuses. A regulated competition.
choice. eliminate the potential for INFOCO can also permit equal
market abuses and access to information based on
cross-subsidies. CPUC can CPUC established protocol,
mandate equal access to data including an open standard
by all power marketers and interface to data.
specify an open standard
interface to data.