Posted under Energy
In a positive development for Maryland, Baltimore Gas & Electric – the state’s leading energy supplier – proposed a new “smart grid initiative” intended to reduce energy use and lower costs. The Maryland Daily Record has the details:
A Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. smart grid initiative proposed Monday would cost less than building a new power plant, while easing demand on the power grid and saving customers money.
The plan would employ advanced smart meters in 2 million homes and businesses, allowing for a two-way communication network that would relay energy use to the utility, eventually eliminating the need for meter readers and estimated use bills.
Customers would reap savings of about $2.6 billion over the life of the project through a program component called smart energy pricing, BGE said. The company would offer customers rebates for reducing their energy consumption during peak periods, such as very hot summer afternoons, determined by the company to be high demand days.
BGE is asking the Maryland Public Service Commission to recover the cost of the project through a customer surcharge. Savings to consumers, however, would exceed additional costs. In a pilot program last summer, 1000 customers “lowered their power consumption by 26 percent to 37 percent during peak periods, saving an average of $100.”
A recent study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that Maryland has enormous potential to cut peak energy use through proposals like the Smart Grid, known in the industry as “demand response,” because a high number of homes in Maryland have central air.
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