Patricia Gipson is the kind of person Commonwealth Edison says its smart meters are designed to help.
At 53, Gipson is diabetic, asthmatic and nearly blind and lives on $779 per month. When the bills come, she’s choosing between medicine, food and her light bill. That’s where the smart meter comes in: The in-home gadget shows her how much electricity she’s using in real-time. And ComEd sends her tips about how to save energy.
There’s only one problem: Gipson can’t figure the device out, and the tips she receives, she says, aren’t helping her save money.
“I couldn’t really figure it out,” she said. “The smart meter. I couldn’t tell you it if is better or it’s worse. It confuses me. They tell you how to save energy — seal the windows or whatever. I rent. I can’t seal this lady’s windows. And if I didn’t rent — where’s this money coming from?”
Six months ago, ComEd sold the state legislature on its $1.3 billion smart grid program on the idea that the devices would save consumers money by helping them better monitor their electricity usage. But an analysis that used ComEd’s data from its pilot study of smart technology finds that consumer education will be key for the area’s most vulnerable populations — the sick, the poor and the elderly, among them — lest they pay for the technology without receiving all the benefits.
This report, which used data from a smart meter pilot area in ComEd’s territory as well as interviews with residents to determine the health effect on vulnerable residents, was authored by the National Center for Medical Legal Partnership, Citizens Utility Board, Energy consultants Lynne Snyder and Barbara Alexander and was paid for by the Health Impact Project, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts
While ComEd found evidence that smart meters helped those in the pilot study lower their energy usage on average, the health assessment found the technology did not positively alter the behavior of elderly or low-income residents.
Ross Hemphill, vice president of regulatory policy and strategy for ComEd said all consumers will benefit from ComEd’s lowered operational costs, which consumers ultimately pay in their electricity bill. The company says smart meters will reduce electricity consumption by inactive meters by 90 percent and energy theft by 50 percent. At the same time, costly meter readers will no longer be necessary.
“Those benefits outweigh the costs in and of themselves,” he said.
Smart technology will also make it easier for ComEd to cut off service to those who don’t pay, the study warns, which could have health implications for those vulnerable populations. Today, the utility sends out trucks to turn off service — a face-to-face contact that can prevent power from being switched off at the home of those who require electricity for nebulizers and other medical devices. About 25 percent of low income households use electrically powered medical devices, according to the study. Smart grid technology means disconnection can happen remotely and instantly.
For those such as Gipson, even a loss of air conditioning can affect health. When ComEd shut off her power for non-payment for four days last summer, she had to sleep at a neighbor’s house and pawn her belongings to have the power switched on.
“I can’t breathe,” she said. “In the summer when it’s humid, I can’t go outside. I can’t even go from the front door to the sidewalk without gasping.”
The study is a warning that without the proper education and protocols in place, ComEd’s smart meters could make things worse rather than better.
The Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates utilities, will decide what comes next. ComEd filed its plan for smart grid deployment Monday, outlining how it intends to make the vision it sold to the legislature, a reality.
The company said it plans to install about 130,000 smart meters in 2012 in Berkeley, Brookfield, Cicero, Elmwood Park, Forest View, Franklin Park, Harwood Heights, La Grange Park, Lyons, Norridge, North Riverside, Northlake, River Grove, Riverside, Rosemont, Schiller Park, Stickney, Stone Park and Westchester.
Another 370,00 meters are slated for 2013 in areas served by ComEd operating centers in Maywood, South Chicago and Glen Ellyn/Lombard. In 2014, another 520,000 meters will be installed in regions served by ComEd operating centers in South Chicago, Glen Ellyn/Lombard and Mount Prospect.
Over 10 years, more than 4 million smart meters will be installed across ComEd’s territory, which has 3.8 million residential customers, with its 19 regional operating centers acting as hubs for the technology.
“It’s all part of delivering on our promise to provide more value and better service,” said Anne Pramaggiore, CEO of ComEd, a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corp.
Consumer education will be a large part of the plan filed Monday, said Tom O’Neill, senior vice president of regulatory and energy policy and general counsel for ComEd. While the technology is expected to add $3 per month to the average electricity bill, a study commissioned by ComEd found that customers could save $2.6 billion over 20 years, more than double the cost of the technology.
“Smart meters have a lot of potential, because you’re going to be able to learn a lot of information about your electricity usage,” said Dr. Megan Sandel, an author of the Health Impact Assessmen and interim executive director of the National Center for Medical Legal Partnership. “But there’s nothing inherently smart about digital meters. What makes it smart is the education that goes along with it.”
ComEd said the plan borrows from lessons the utility learned in its initial pilot program, which installed 128,000 smart meters in nine communities along the Interstate 290 corridor and in Chicago’s Humboldt Park Corridor — as well as from other utilities undergoing similar rollouts across the country.
During its pilot study, ComEd did not use remote disconnection at the request of the ICC, which regulates utilities. But the utility has made it clear in selling smart grid, that it intends to use remote disconnection to save money.
O’Neill said ComEd still intends to inform customers that their power will be shut off, as is required under law. And when a customer does pay, he says, reconnection can be instantaneous.
“The reconnect is equally important and for a lot of customers it’s even more important,” he said. “The bottom line is we can get faster reconnects.”
The health impact assessment recommends that the ICC disallow remote disconnection. Several states, including New York, Ohio and Maryland have mandated — on health and safety grounds — that smart meter deployment not eliminate the requirement that utilities visit a home before disconnection.
David Kolata, executive director of Citizens Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group, said if remote disconnection is allowed, it might make sense to design the technology to automatically notify a family member that their elderly or ill relative has lost power. Delaying disconnection can cause other problems for vulnerable populations — allowing them to accrue more debt.
“We wouldn’t want to see the technology inhibited,” Kolata said. “Those costs are picked up by everyone and ultimately socialized. We think that remote disconnection should be part of the overall plan at the end of the day. But you have to do it wisely.”
At the same time, the study recommended that ComEd be required to define and survey vulnerable populations as smart meters are installed. If those populations, in particular, are not seeing lower electricity bills and other benefits of smart meters, the ICC should consider eliminating cost increases for them until the benefits are tangible.
At the same time, it suggests that consumer protections for disconnection could be stronger. Other states have seasonal moratoriums on disconnection and delay shutting off the power to households where a member of the household is ill.
jwernau@tribune.com | Twitter @littlewern
