Bluewater Power’s Smart Meter Plan

Bluewater Power feels that the prudent business decision is to review and learn from smart meter implementations that are occurring in Ontario currently as well as review any further government regulations on the subject matter and make the best decision for our customers.

Bluewater Power Smart Meter Team

A Smart Meter team has been formed from representatives in each of the departments that will have involvement in the smart meter initiative. The goal for 2007 was to gather enough information to allow Bluewater Power to make an educated decision on a smart meter vendor based on the “best fit” for our customers and the utility as a whole. Information has been gathered through our Watford smart meter pilot, vendor information sessions, smart meter conferences, and by visiting other utilities to find out how and why they chose their smart meter vendor and what road blocks (if any) they encountered.

Smart Meter Working Group
Bluewater Power is a member of a smart meter working group that has focused on the whole of the smart metering initiative and has as its mandate to collaborate on research and recommendation surrounding the initiative.  This working group is a great resource for Bluewater Power since they have done extensive work on researching, piloting and testing all aspects of the initiative including smart meter vendors, security, communications, disposal of existing assets, and workflow requirements.

Utility Consortium Smart Metering RFP
Bluewater Power is one of twenty-two utilities included in a Utility Consortium Smart Metering RFP.  Bluewater Power intends to use the information gained from our participation in this process to not only benefit from the volume discounts available, but to gain the knowledge necessary to choose the smart meter vendor that represents the “best fit” for us as well as utilize it as a basis for developing accurate plans and budget forecasts for smart-meter deployments in the future.

Reducing Peak Demand

When we’re all using a lot of electricity at the same time we create a "peak demand" period. And supplying electricity at those peak times has a range of impacts:

1. They add to our electricity costs because higher demand often means higher market prices.
   
   
2. They’re hard on the environment because more of the less attractive forms of generation must be run to meet them.
   
   
3. They add to the amount Ontario needs to invest in the system because meeting the peaks requires even more new generation, and more transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Lets work together to reduce peak times!

Demand Changes Throughout the Day

Electricity consumption goes up and down throughout the day. On weekdays, it starts to rise in the morning as people get up and continues to its peak in the late afternoon or evening as people come home. On weekends and holidays, demand is lower overall.