Eversource set to introduce smart meters in Connecticut

Eversource is ready to instal smart meters for its more than 1.2 million residential and small business customers in Connecticut, US.

The proposal, which was filed in November 2021, forms part of Eversource’s electricity system modernisation and is intended to replace mostly end of life meters – most of them AMR drive-by read meters, which were installed in the early 2000s – with smart meters.

At the time of the filing, the company estimated that approximately 800,000 meters would be 20 years or older within five years.

In its filing, Eversource estimated a benefit-cost ratio of 1.2 relative to business as usual over 20 years, with a cost of $620 million and associated benefits of $743 million.

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These benefits include both customer benefits including demand savings due to participation in time varying rates and targeted energy efficiency and demand response programmes and operational benefits including reduced energy consumption associated with optimising power flow – this the largest of the benefits – and reductions in costs resulting from energy theft and write-off reduction.

Jared Lawrence, Senior Vice President of Customer Operations, Digital Strategy and Chief Customer Officer, described the change to smart meters in the world of electricity meters as “like replacing an old flip phone with a smart phone”.

“We’re excited to bring this technology to our Connecticut customers. We are ready, we have the expertise and the team to do it and we look forward to finalising a plan with [the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority] to roll this out to our customers here.”

In its proposal, Eversource anticipated a three-year rollout timeline, beginning with a pilot to test functionalities and ensure the required data flow in the second half of 2023 and the full rollout getting underway in early 2024.

With the AMI technology, Eversource also anticipates collaborating with the PURA and other regulated electricity companies to establish a new rate structure that would allow for costs to be based on peak times and lower usage periods.

Earlier in 2023 Eversource launched the smart meter rollout for its 1.8 million customers in Massachusetts to take place over five years.