Regulators forming policy for time-of-use metering

Staff of the New York Public Service Commission is calling on interested parties to attend a smart-metering conference in Albany next month as regulators try to formulate plans for wide roll-out of advanced meters.

“Advanced Metering, also known as Smart Metering, enables customers to better control their energy costs by allowing them to respond to peak prices through the use of state-of-the-art technology; but it can also do much more,” said Commission Chairman Garry Brown. “We want to push ahead with this critically important initiative. However, we realize that we have more questions to answer in order to get it right. To be successful, a clear and comprehensive understanding of the functions that these sophisticated systems are intended to achieve must be developed before they are installed. This technical conference will bring together experts in the AMI field to help answer outstanding questions.”

Topics for discussion at the April 14 and 15, 2008 conference at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, 660 Albany Shaker Road, Albany, will include the following: overview of AMI systems, smart grid systems and their relationship to AMI systems, AMI communication protocols and platforms, meter data access issues, and AMI meter and system capabilities.

Click here for a PSC discussion of advanced metering.