All of California’s major private-sector utilities now have programs to switch their retail natural gas and electric meters to advanced, so-called “smart” technology with the announcement late last month that Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), the nation’s largest gas distribution utility, will ask state regulators to approve a $1 billion changeout program. Generally, the advanced metering systems offer real-time information to customers, have two-way communications capability and allow management of individual appliance energy use.

Debra Reed, CEO for San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s two California utilities — SoCalGas and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E) — told the company’s annual analysts conference last Thursday in New York City that the gas utility transformation to an advanced metering system, as had been outlined last year for SDG&E, is one of four key initiatives she has for the two utilities this year.

Noting that the gas utility meter switch was not in previous plans for this year, Reed said the SoCalGas advanced meter program is “something that has now become cost-effective, and we will be making a filing later this year [to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)] to put smart meters into the SoCalGas system on a phased basis.”

She said the first phase will involve about 4 million meters that would overlap with a smart meter change by Southern California Edison Co. (SCE), which shares the same territory in much of Southern California with the gas utility. “Then we would look at a future phase that would deploy smart meters throughout the rest of the system [which includes the City of Los Angeles that is served for electricity by the nation’s large muni, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power],” said Reed. She estimated the first phase costs at $500-600 million, with the total SoCalGas smart meter change at about $1 billion.

Costs of the advanced meters have come down enough recently to enable the Sempra gas utility to provide what Reed called “great benefits to customers” by upgrading the metering.

Since late 2006 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has started deploying more than 10.3 million advanced electric and gas meters in a $1.7 billion, five-year transformation program; SCE began last year to roll out pilots for its ultimate $1 billion multi-year effort to switch all of its 5.3 million electric meters; and SDG&E is just beginning a $500 million program to change out about 1.3 million electric meters and 800,000 gas meters.

Reed said the other three major utility initiatives for this year are to (a) get final CPUC approval for a $197 million general rate settlement; (b) get CPUC approval by year-end for the environmental impact report and statement for the $1.5 billion, 150-mile high-voltage Sunrise Powerlink transmission line from Imperial County into San Diego; and (c) get final approval for an expanded energy efficiency program.

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