Xcel Energy, Colorado鈥檚 largest power provider, wants to make $500 million to install smart meters and make other upgrades to its electricity system to improve reliability and give customers more information about their energy use.The utility filed information about its Advanced Grid Intelligence and Security proposal this week with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
For the utility, the proposal would improve the efficiency of the grid and optimize voltage to prevent losing electricity along power lines. For customers, smart meters will allow tracking of electricity use in 15-minute increments, rather than just once per month, and will better integrate with devices like private solar panels, storage batteries or electric vehicles.
鈥淲e recognize the fact that our customers and our communities are asking for more control in the energy they are consuming,鈥� said Xcel Regional Vice President Alice Jackson. 鈥淭hey want to be able to embrace these technological advancements.鈥�
Smart meters would also allow the utility to better respond to outages.
鈥淲e literally still today have to wait for multiple customers to call and say 鈥榟ey, I鈥檓 out of service鈥� before we can pinpoint exactly where we need to roll our trucks to to fix the problem,鈥� Jackson said, adding the new network of smart meters would alert the utility to the location of an outage.
Jackson said if approved, the project would not start rolling out between 2018 and 2021. She said the utility does not yet have an estimate for how the $500 million price tag will change customers鈥� bills. But, an estimate in the utility鈥檚 application predicts the project would result in cost savings for customers by 2024.
The proposal is part of a larger strategy the utility unveiled in January called 鈥淥ur Energy Future,鈥� which includes an application to build Colorado鈥檚 largest wind farm, a $1 billion, 300-turbine project in the eastern part of the state.
