Dallas-based Oncor says it will seek stimulus smart grid money
April 17, 2009
The state’s largest regulated electricity delivery company says it’s drawing up plans to seek some of the $3.3 billion that the Obama Administration is making available to promote development of the “smart grid.”
Written by , Quorum Report
The state’s largest regulated electricity delivery company says it’s drawing up plans to seek some of the $3.3 billion that the Obama Administration is making available to promote development of the “smart grid.”
Carol Peters, spokeswoman for Dallas-based Oncor, said the company has already started on smart-grid projects, including outfitting homes with special electric meters designed to allow customers to see in real time how much power they are consuming with each appliance and how much it’s going to cost them.
“Yes, Oncor will be applying for those funds,” Peters told QR this morning. “I don’t have a dollar figure to share with you just yet.”
Peters said the company is pleased that the White House is providing guidance for how power providers can access the money. And indications are that the federal program “fits like a glove” many of the Oncor initiatives already in the works, she said.
Oncor has already outfitted about 40,000 homes in its service areas with advanced meters which allow customers to monitor their electric usage in real time and can be equipped with in-home receivers that tell users how much power they are using and how much they are paying each time they flip a light switch or jack up the air conditioner.
By year’s end, the company plans to have about 609,000 advanced meters installed. By 2012, the number is projected to reach 3 million. Oncor’s service area runs from the Red River to Round Rock and from Tyler to past Midland. Its lines supply power to those markets where retail electricity is delivered by municipally owned companies or co-ops.
In January, Oncor won preliminary approval from the Public Utility Commission to begin building the largest share of the CREZ lines, which is expected to substantially increase the already burgeoning production of wind turbines in West Texas.
Late yesterday, the White House formally laid out its plans to distribute more than $3.3 billion from the federal stimulus package for smart grid technology development grants and an additional $615 million for smart grid storage, monitoring and technology viability.
“By investing in updating the grid now, we will lower utility bills for American families and businesses, lessen our dependence on foreign oil and create good jobs that will drive our economic recovery – a strong return on our investment,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
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