PHI Awards Major Smart Technology Contracts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Deployment of 300,000 Smart Meters Will Begin in Delaware
Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM) today announced contracts to purchase the first of what could be nearly 2 million smart meters for installation in the homes and businesses of customers in three states and the District of Columbia over the next five years. The new digital meters are a critical component of PHI’s plan to build a smart grid network that could eventually serve the company’s 1.9 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and New Jersey.
Installation of the first 300,000 meters will begin in Delaware with Delmarva Power customers later this year where approval has been granted by utility regulators. Full deployment to all of PHI’s customers who are served by Pepco in the District of Columbia and Suburban Maryland, Atlantic City Electric in Southern New Jersey and Delmarva Power in Maryland could occur by 2013, pending further regulatory approvals.
The smart grid is a major component of PHI’s plan to combine advanced technologies with new energy efficiency programs to help customers control their energy costs. These technologies will enable Pepco, Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric to detect outages automatically down to the individual customer, gather detailed energy usage for every customer and communicate with customers at the meter.
“PHI’s vision is to change the relationship we have with our customers,” said PHI President and CEO Joseph M. Rigby. “With new digital meters and the smart grid, PHI’s utilities will be able to provide up-to-date energy information and tools that will help our customers manage their energy use and costs. PHI is proud to be a leader in the transformation of the electric distribution industry.”
Smart meters record electricity usage in more detail than conventional meters and customers will be able to access and use this information to better manage their energy bills through My Account, an on-line energy management tool available on each utility’s Web site.
Customers will also benefit from the outage detection capabilities of the smart meter that will allow PHI to provide proactive notification of power outage and service restoration events to customers by
e-mail or text message. The meters also enable automated meter reading which will result in fewer estimated bills.
PHI’s multi-year contracts with GE Energy and Landis+Gyr provide the company with flexibility to expand smart meter purchases and installations as regulatory authorizations to proceed are granted.
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Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM) is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving about 1.9 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and New Jersey. PHI subsidiaries, Pepco, Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric, provide regulated electricity service; Delmarva Power also provides natural gas service. PHI provides competitive wholesale generation services through Conectiv Energy and retail energy products and services through Pepco Energy Services.
