NB Power CEO defends smart meters as way to avoid more power plants

The CEO of NB Power is defending the public utility's plan to install smart meters as a key step in building a smart grid and saving New Brunswickers more than $1 billion in the long run.

Gaetan Thomas said the switch to smart meters will cost the utility in some areas but will pay off in others.

"There will actually be less revenue over time," Thomas said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton on Friday.

But the loss of revenue will be offset by a decreased need to build new power plants, since the utility believes smart meters will reduce energy use by customers and eliminate the need for more plants.

Plan criticized as money loser

Smart meters would make it easier for NB Power to collect data about energy use and make reading meters at individual customer properties unnecessary. 

At hearings by the Energy and Utilities Board hearings, critics said the smart meters would mean greater costs more than benefits and result in a loss of  $1.3 million over the lifespan of the project.

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But Thomas said the savings for New Brunswickers would exceed $1 billion because having a smart grid would eliminate the need to build another hydroelectric power plant to answer a higher demand for energy.

Thomas also addressed concerns about possible cost overruns the smart-meter project may encounter. The installation of smart meters in Ontario cost almost twice as much as the original estimate, according to that province's auditor-general.

Thomas said Ontario was a special case and NB Power`s program isn't at risk of those same overruns.

"We have already fixed the cost of the meters, which is the greatest proportion of the cost," he said.

"The other major portion of the costs of meters is installing meters and we've been installing meters now for years. We know exactly how much that costs."

Social licence

Thomas said NB Power has extensively consulted with the public about the smart grid, and the utility feels it has the social licence to install smart meters.

"We've been consulting our customers over the last several years, have been into every municipality …  and they're clearly telling us they want a cleaner grid, a grid that is more flexible and they're also telling us that they want the ability to actually sell energy to NB Power," he said.

Questions have been raised in the past about privacy concerns related to smart meters, which could theoretically be used to indicate when someone is in their house or even what they're doing. Thomas said data will be collected but it will be handled with privacy concerns in mind.

"We have no intention to sell the data to third parties, nor would we have the right to do it," said Thomas.

The data that is collected will be shared with customers, so they can better manage their own energy use.

"With smart meters, we will provide apps that will allow the customers to know what their consumptions are and they will avoid a surprise at the end of the month," said Thomas.

The Energy and Utilities Board's annual rate hearings continue Friday.