PUC approves PPL Electric Utilities smart meter plan

PPL Smart Meter Plan Approval confirms PUC authorization under Act 129 for bidirectional smart meters, hourly usage data, time-of-use rates, real-time pricing, and a full EDC deployment schedule within 15 years across eligible customers.

HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, or PUC, recently approved the Smart Meter Technology Procurement and Installation Plan submitted by PPL Electric Utilities Corporation.

The Commission voted 5-0 to approve an Order finalizing PPL’s plan for smart meter deployment, following approval of its post-2010 purchasing plan by the PUC, as required by Act 129 of 2008 Act 129.

The Smart Meter Plan, or SMP, approved recently replaces PPL’s original SMP, which was filed with the PUC in August 2009. The Commission found that PPL’s original plan did not fully comply with Act 129, most significantly because technology that had initially been deployed was unable to provide customers with direct access to price and consumption information. As a result, the Commission directed PPL to develop a plan that would fully comply with Act 129 amid ongoing electricity deregulation in Pennsylvania and the additional requirements of the Commission’s SMP Implementation Order.

An updated PPL SMP, filed with the PUC on June 30, 2014, and informed by its first 2011 power purchases experience, was the subject of extensive filings, briefs and hearings before the Commission’s Office of Administrative Law Judge, extending from July 2014 through June 2015. The recent vote by the Commission finalizes approval of PPL’s updated SMP.

Act 129 of 2008 required electric distribution companies, or EDCs, with more than 100,000 customers to furnish smart meter technology to support efficiency and conservation both upon request and in new building construction, and to have a full deployment schedule not to exceed 15 years.

The Act defined smart meter technology as that capable of bidirectional communication that records electricity usage on at least an hourly basis, including related electric distribution system upgrades to enable the technology.

The Act also directed that smart meter technology must provide customers with direct access to – and use of – price and consumption information, such as hourly consumption the ability to support time-of-use rates and real-time price programs and automatic control of electric consumption by the customer.

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