Smart Grid

Last month, the Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s "smart grid" proposal. From start to finish, the whole affair demonstrated everything that is wrong with Maryland's socialized electricity industry. To begin with, BGE's plan was a dud. The whole idea of "smart grid" is to inform customers how much electricity costs in real time so that they have an incentive to use less electricity during times of peak demand (usually hot summer afternoons), when electricity is expensive to generate and transmit.

Legislators heard an outpouring of complaints Thursday about smart meters from Maryland utility customers who want to be allowed to opt out without charge. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and other Maryland utilities are installing the meters — which send wireless data about energy use and allow the companies to pinpoint outages — as part of a nationwide push to jettison analog meters that require in-person reading. Utilities say the new technology will reduce costs and enable customers to better manage their energy use. But here and elsewhere, the shift has kicked off a countermovement of smart-meter foes with concerns about health effects, privacy, the cost of installation and other issues.

Constellation Energy Group has invested in Raleigh, N.C.-based Consert Inc., a "smart grid" technology provider. Consert on Tuesday announced the $17.7 million investment by Constellation, GE Energy Financial Services, Qualcomm Inc., Verizon Ventures and others. The investment by Constellation, the corporate parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric, comes as Maryland regulators have denied the utility's smart grid proposal because of up-front costs to consumers. The technology allows consumers to track their electricity use in real time and enables two-way communication between customers and the utility.

Approximately 200,000 people in Maryland were left without power in wake of hurricane Sandy on Oct. 30 2012. Three days later only 700 houses were still left without power. Jeannette M. Mills at Baltimore Gas and Electricity observed that the quick restoration was partially made possible by smart meters and smart grid, made of two-way communications systems, smart meters and sensors, similar to shift from analog to digital system in cable services. Smart meters pinpoint precise locations of meters to electricity service sources through digital communication, thus saving time, dollars and wasteful service rounds to locations where power has been already restored.

A security consultant named Mike Davis, working for IOActive, got a lot of attention last year for buying a "smart" computerized electricity meter on eBay and hacking into its software. At the Black Hat hacker convention in Las Vegas, Davis ran a simulation showing how a "worm" (similar to a virus) could take over a smart grid by replicating itself and passing from meter to meter. "Malicious code could quickly propagate throughout a neighborhood, ultimately causing power disconnections and calibration modifications, rendering the meters inoperable," IOActive, a Seattle-based computer consultancy, wrote on its website.

The dust-up in Maryland over the Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. smart grid proposal highlights the importance of utilities, regulators and other stakeholders having a clear understanding about the range of potential benefits of smart grid technologies and the need to design smart grid plan expressly to achieve those goals. The California Public Utilities Commission took a big step in the right direction recently when it approved a comprehensive plan to maximize the environment and consumer benefits of smart grid technologies.

The U.S. Department of Energy has given Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. a little more time to get approval of its amended "smart grid" proposal from state regulators so that the utility can keep a $200 million grant tied to the program. In a letter to the Maryland Public Service Commission -- which had rejected BGE's earlier proposal in June -- the energy department said it will not make a decision on whether to divert the federal stimulus grant to another program until Aug. 16, instead of the initial July 30 deadline.

WASHINGTON -One warm August afternoon in 2003, a power failure originating in Ohio coursed through the northeastern section of the electrical grid, sparking the nation's largest blackout ever and leaving millions in eight states without air conditioning, traffic lights or cell phone service. A "smart grid" might have averted a shutdown that cost an estimated $6 billion. That new grid - a digital network allowing utilities, consumers and alternative sources of renewable energy to "talk" to one another - could steer electricity to where it is needed most, avert cascading energy bottlenecks and promote power from alternative sources.

Last summer, Shirley Norlem of Annapolis joined 1,000 other Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers in testing new "smart grid" technology that promises to transform the way Marylanders consume - and conserve - energy in our increasingly carbon-constrained world. In exchange for significant rebates on her bill, Ms. Norlem shut down her plasma television, computer and other household electronics on the hottest summer afternoons. The efforts of Ms. Norlem and other participants in the pilot program helped reduce strain on the electric grid, lessening the need for BGE to draw additional power during times of peak demand, when electricity in the wholesale market is most expensive.

Considering the potential of smart meters to promote residential energy conservation, it would difficult for even the most hardened skeptic of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to be pleased with the Maryland Public Service Commission's rejection of the program. If a so-called smart grid is a critical part of this nation's energy future, the state's chief regulator has just ensured that Baltimore-area utility customers stay securely anchored to the past — a more vulnerable position than the PSC seems to realize.

Printing Kate Kheel's letter "Smart meters are dangerous" (March 24) piece shows it's not the meters but the people who fear them that are dangerous. Her fear of communication signals is simply unfounded, and her fear of higher utility bills is simply justice for those that continue to waste energy while refusing to manage their demand to match the true cost of electricity throughout the day. Those who are conscious of the hourly fluctuating price of electricity based on demand are tired of paying fixed rates to carry these free-loaders along with their wasteful disregard of the law of supply and demand.

A security consultant named Mike Davis, working for IOActive, got a lot of attention last year for buying a "smart" computerized electricity meter on eBay and hacking into its software. At the Black Hat hacker convention in Las Vegas, Davis ran a simulation showing how a "worm" (similar to a virus) could take over a smart grid by replicating itself and passing from meter to meter. "Malicious code could quickly propagate throughout a neighborhood, ultimately causing power disconnections and calibration modifications, rendering the meters inoperable," IOActive, a Seattle-based computer consultancy, wrote on its website.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will deploy its "smart meter" technology intended to save customers money by helping them control energy use, agreeing Monday to terms set by state regulators on how the utility can pass on infrastructure costs to ratepayers. Under those terms, BGE would shoulder the early costs to install smart meters in homes and businesses and wouldn't be able to seek reimbursement through rate increases until 2014 at the earliest. If the rate hikes are approved starting the following year, BGE estimates that its 1.2 million customers could pay $1.10 a month on average over a 10-year period.

The U.S. Department of Energy has given Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. a little more time to get approval of its amended "smart grid" proposal from state regulators so that the utility can keep a $200 million grant tied to the program. In a letter to the Maryland Public Service Commission -- which had rejected BGE's earlier proposal in June -- the energy department said it will not make a decision on whether to divert the federal stimulus grant to another program until Aug. 16, instead of the initial July 30 deadline.

Last month, the Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s "smart grid" proposal. From start to finish, the whole affair demonstrated everything that is wrong with Maryland's socialized electricity industry. To begin with, BGE's plan was a dud. The whole idea of "smart grid" is to inform customers how much electricity costs in real time so that they have an incentive to use less electricity during times of peak demand (usually hot summer afternoons), when electricity is expensive to generate and transmit.

The dust-up in Maryland over the Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. smart grid proposal highlights the importance of utilities, regulators and other stakeholders having a clear understanding about the range of potential benefits of smart grid technologies and the need to design smart grid plan expressly to achieve those goals. The California Public Utilities Commission took a big step in the right direction recently when it approved a comprehensive plan to maximize the environment and consumer benefits of smart grid technologies.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s proposal to install customer smart meters to promote conservation is (at 450 pages) a complicated plan that will require close scrutiny by the Maryland Public Service Commission. But the essential idea - to enable the utility to track electricity and gas consumption on an hourly basis and set prices accordingly - is not only smart but vital for Maryland's energy future. Under BGE's plan, a smart meter would be installed in every business and home. Unlike ordinary meters that are manually inspected every month, such devices keep constant track of how much energy is being used and can wirelessly transmit that information to a central office.

Legislators heard an outpouring of complaints Thursday about smart meters from Maryland utility customers who want to be allowed to opt out without charge. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and other Maryland utilities are installing the meters — which send wireless data about energy use and allow the companies to pinpoint outages — as part of a nationwide push to jettison analog meters that require in-person reading. Utilities say the new technology will reduce costs and enable customers to better manage their energy use. But here and elsewhere, the shift has kicked off a countermovement of smart-meter foes with concerns about health effects, privacy, the cost of installation and other issues.

Constellation Energy Group has invested in Raleigh, N.C.-based Consert Inc., a "smart grid" technology provider. Consert on Tuesday announced the $17.7 million investment by Constellation, GE Energy Financial Services, Qualcomm Inc., Verizon Ventures and others. The investment by Constellation, the corporate parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric, comes as Maryland regulators have denied the utility's smart grid proposal because of up-front costs to consumers. The technology allows consumers to track their electricity use in real time and enables two-way communication between customers and the utility.

The Sun's June 22 editorial on the Public Service Commission's denial of BGE's smart meter application simply repeats BGE's own assertions regarding its proposal as a business venture and fails to acknowledge the important ratepayer concerns at issue in this case. The long-term vision of a "smart" grid for the country is not at issue here. What is at issue is BGE's specific smart meter proposal to spend almost $1 billion, paid by BGE's customers, risk-free and at a profit to the company, to replace all existing electric and gas meters.