Recently, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada conducted an investigation regarding NV Energy’s advanced service delivery program. It considered four alternatives to smart meters:
- Analog Meter
- Digital Meter
- Non-communicating AMI Meter
- Communicating AMI Meter with Limited Radio Transmissions
And the winner is: Digital Meter. The benefits cited by the Commission for this option are: (1) It provides a meter that does not store data and (2) it retains some economic benefits by reducing the number of meter readers necessary to read meters because of the drive by capability.
The Commission then ordered NV Energy to file a trial opt-out tariff to allow customers to opt-out of smart meters with a digital meter. These digital meters are what I call the first generation of smart meters. The meters can be read with drive-by meter reading technology. Although it is 179 pages, NV Energy’s opt-out tariff filing is worth reading. Beyond addressing the cost for the opt-out, it provides great insight into other issues such as the cost to reinstall a smart meter, who can opt out in a
landlord-tenant situation, privacy and sample customer communications material.