NEWSLETTER JULY 2016

NSOFT INDIA SERVICES PVT. LTD. #580, 30th Main, Banashankari 3rd Stage, Bengaluru, INDIA +91 80 26694502 marcom@nsoft.in www.nsoft.in

IMPLEMENTING

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

PROGRAMS Utilities in the US have been deploying smart

meters in order to implement energy efficiency

programs and move towards sustainable use of

energy. Energy efficiency programs help

consumers manage their energy consumption

and reduce their electric bills, and conserve

resources.

A US power utility named ComEd recently

deployed an AMI project to enhance its

operations in the city of Aurora. Since

technology had moved on, they wanted to move

towards smart meters, and so far, they have

installed 2.4 million smart meters across the

USA, and have spent more than US$ 1 billion

towards the same. This amounts to an average

investment of Rs 29,000 per meter. Another

estimate pegs that the entire program of

replacing 4 million meters, including head end

software that will enable billing and analysis,

will cost USD 2.6 billion. This is an average cost

of Rs 45,000 per consumer.

The objectives to implement smart meters were

as follows:

1. Ensure that there is accurate reading

2. Enable remote meter reading

3. Curb non-revenue usage of electricity due

to theft

4. Curb instances of inadequate billing

5. Implement energy efficiency programs

a. Time of use pricing

b. Consumers can set energy efficiency

targets for themselves online

c. Consumers can receive notifications

when they exceed consumption targets

Under this program, customers had to pay for

the smart meters. They were charged on a

monthly basis for the smart meter. There was

resistance from many customers to pay extra

for smart meters. For such customers, who

opted out of the project, an extra monthly fee

was levied, which the utility used to pay its

mobile meter readers. Thus they started to

incentivize the adoption of smart meters.

For consumers who adopted smart meters, the

utility rolled out an energy efficiency program.

This was in the form of a demand response

programme, which informed consumers of rates

and hours when there will be peak time demand

Revenue Maximization for

Utilities

NEWSLETTER JULY 2016

NSOFT INDIA SERVICES PVT. LTD. #580, 30th Main, Banashankari 3rd Stage, Bengaluru, INDIA +91 80 26694502 marcom@nsoft.in www.nsoft.in

and rates, as well as peak time when there

would be savings. This has helped the

customers to reduce their power usage and

costs across seasons, when the heaters and air

conditioners would be used. It has also helped

to offset the extra cost of smart meter payment.

As an additional incentive, through the platform,

the utility allows its customers to earn US$1 for

every kilowatt-hour they save during peak

periods. The KWh saved will be deducted from

a customer’s electricity bill in the following

month. With the launch of the energy efficiency

program, consumer adoption of smart meters

has drastically increased, since they are

beginning to see benefits in managing their

energy consumption. Pilots of such energy

management programs are being tried. During

a trial of 52,000 meters for 5 days, it was

demonstrated that an aggregate of US$385,000

was saved.

“Smart meter alternatives

and the route to energy

efficiency”

When energy efficiency programs are

implemented, utilities typically use the following

energy management tools to help consumers:

1. Personalized Energy-Management Tools,

where users can access free personalized

energy saving tips, set savings goals, and

enroll to receive high-usage alerts that notify

them when their electricity is trending higher

than usual.

2. Peak Time Savings (PTS) will help

customers save by voluntarily reducing

electricity use during designated time

periods when energy is most in demand. In

such cases, electricity is priced hourly, so

that consumers can save by using electricity

when prices are lower. Messaging systems

are used to inform consumers about the

rates, or changes in rates.

3. Value added services - These include real-

time high price alerts, predicted day-ahead

price alerts, online bill comparison tool, bill

estimation, and information to help guide

energy decisions.

4. Analytics - By monitoring a consumer

(typically industrial or commercial or

buildings) electricity consumption, and

collecting data such as power factor, load,

consumption, and TOU, easy-to-understand

usage graphs and reports can be provided

that can be accessed online.

5. For large consumers, Business Energy

Analysis services can also be provided,

which assesses a businesses’ electricity

usage month-to-month or year-to-year, and

provides them insights into patterns,

problem areas etc. By installing additional

meters, such consumption can be

disaggregated to provide micro analysis.

NSOFT has come out with disruptive solutions

that help utilities implement infrastructure that

enable all of the above features at a fraction of

the cost when compared to the per meter cost of

smart meters as highlighted above. NSOFT has

also been offering energy management solution

to HT consumers to help the make savings on

their energy bill by providing them insights into

consumption.