Choices for Smart Grid Implementation

Utility companies are under pressure to reduce their own operating costs and support energy savings, while providing more services to their customers. These new services will be expected to include better information for customers to help them make decisions about energy use and optimizing current energy availability. This paper describes the use of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) as a way of monitoring energy usage, increasing operating efficiencies for the utility, and enabling information flows for supporting energy-saving schemes. Several options for implementing AMI are discussed. The impact of recent developments in communications protocol standardization is considered. The discussion includes the criteria and factors that should be used for making a choice among the possible options. The specific case examined here is an electric cooperative utility company in New Hampshire.