Advanced metering infrastructure widely viewed as key to smarter power grid and reducing time customers are left in the dark during outages
TOM JOHNSON | NJ SPOTLIGHT August 31, 2020
In what amounts to a first, all four of the state’s electric utilities have plans to either install smart meters or, in the case of Rockland Electric, have already done so.
Smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure are widely viewed as crucial to building a smarter electric grid — one that can successfully integrate intermittent sources of electricity like solar panels and offshore wind into a more intelligent power grid. It will also give utilities the ability to respond and restore power rapidly when more than a million customers experience outages, such as happened earlier this month during a tropical storm.
So far, that’s largely not the case in New Jersey, with the exception of Rockland Electric’s 74,000 customers, who got smart meters last year under a pilot program approved by the state Board of Public Utilities.
Holding off on smart metering
In the past, state regulators have been reluctant to boost utility customers’ bills by approving smart meters, even though they are widely used in the rest of the country, with more than 90 million homes outfitted with the technology.
“New Jersey has been beyond the curve for years on smart meters,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “We’ve underinvested in the electric grid for generations.’’
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