A $16-million plan to modernize New Westminster’s electrical meters will get underway in 2023.
For the past few years, the New Westminster Electrical Utility has been laying the groundwork to upgrade its aging electrical meters with new advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).
“These advanced metres are today's current standard across Canada. … At least 70 to 80 per cent of current Canadian households have advanced meters, and that number continues to grow relatively quickly,” said Steve Faltas, senior business process manager for the electrical utility. “At one point, it'll be 100 per cent throughout the industry.”
Faltas said the electric utility is currently in the middle of its detailed planning phase for AMI and it anticipates that to be completed by the end of March. It’s hoping to launch a 100-meter pilot program in the fall, and test and address any potential issues that arise in that process.
“That would lead us to a mass deployment in the spring of 2024,” he said. “We're hoping, anticipating, the project will be completed by the end of 2024. It is roughly a two-year timeframe.”
In a Jan. 25 presentation to city council, staff outlined a number of benefits to the electric utility and to customers with the AMI system, such as replacing existing infrastructure that is costly to maintain and is being phased out.
“It will improve our outage response times and a more targeted response,” Faltas said. “We currently are very reactionary in terms of our response. And while we don't have a ton of them, and we're quick to respond, the internal process right now is simply waiting on either Hydro to give us a phone call, if it's a feeder that's out, or customers contacting us and letting us know their power is out.”
Faltas said the new meters have enhanced safety features embedded in them that will help protect homes and communities, including overheat protection. He said they also provide theft and tampering protection, as well as voltage monitoring.
“Obviously, the billing and data accuracy will be improved,” he added. “We'll have the ability to remote disconnect and reconnect, which currently is being done manually using our meter readers, our meter technicians. There will be significant operational efficiencies.”
Additionally, a modernized grid will also support innovative technologies such as electric vehicles and solar panels, Faltas said.
“We haven't calculated this exact amount, but we also know that the city will see a reduction in its corporate GHG emissions by not having to send meter readers out in trucks daily to collect the readings,” he said.
According to Faltas, the new meters will also give customers a greater insight into their energy usage, which could help them to reduce their energy waste and to save money.
A long time coming
Rod Carle, general manager of the city’s electric utility, said BC Hydro reached out to the city in 2012 and offered the opportunity to be part of its initial procurement of automated metering infrastructure.
At that time, BC Hydro was embarking on plans to install 1.8 million meters in homes and businesses across the province. City officials discussed BC Hydro’s offer to piggyback on its process and to take advantage of savings related to the purchase of “smart meters.”
“This would have been about a $2.4-million savings to the city,” Carle recalled. “The utility commission scheduled a joint meeting with city council, and they both agreed to decline the BC Hydro offer and then they asked staff to come back with further detailed analysis and more options.”
At the time BC Hydro was moving forward with smart meters, some people were voicing concerns about the technology, including some who thought it could cause health issues.
“There was already a lot of negativity in the press throughout all of 2012, and we wanted to stay away from this bleeding edge technology,” Carle told council Monday. “It was something new. It was new to B.C.”
Carle said New Westminster then considered four options: a fully automated AMI system; a two-way communication system; a one-way communication system; and no action. A number of complications the delayed action on the initiative, including changes to IT requirements required as part of the project and COVID-19.
How much will it cost?
Advanced metering infrastructure was originally estimated to cost $10 million when first put forward by the city in 2018. The 2022 to 2026 approved capital plan includes $10 million to procure and install meters, with funds coming out of the electrical reserve.
Staff, however, note that the electric utility is now forecasting the cost to be $14 to $16 million. Since the original budget was developed in 2018, the scope of the project has changed and now includes the purchase and integration of meter data management software, additional staffing to support the project and ongoing operations, nearly 700 additional meters, and other IT related upgrades and integrations.
The new estimate also reflects the impacts of inflation on meters and installation, a five per cent contingency and a project reserve of five per cent.
Ron Au, who works in the city’s finance department, said the additional $4.5 million is due to the need to invest in additional IT and software support to execute the project.
“At the time when the project was first developed, the initial understanding by the staff at the time was that the meter and meter data would integrate seamlessly within the customer information system of the city,” he said. “This has proven not to be the case.”
Au said the technology solution that staff were attempting to solve at that time was limited to compliance and to meter reads, but the utility has since seen a demand to modernize its grid and to provide outage management.
More conversation coming
Coun. Daniel Fontaine posed a number of questions about the advanced metering infrastructure – something he said was previously referred to as smart meters – at a Nov. 28 workshop about the City of New Westminster’s utilities. He questioned why the city was “so late to the game” in proceeding with the technology and asked if customers have the ability to opt-out and have their smart meter turned off.
Harji Varn, the city’s director of finance, said further information about the advanced metering infrastructure would come forward at council’s strategic planning workshop in February and in budget discussions in January.
At this week’s workshop, which honed in on several items related to the city’s budget, staff addressed the question of opting out of the AMI.
“We do anticipate having an opt-out policy in place, allowing customers to have an advanced meter installed that doesn't transmit any radio frequency,” Faltas said. “So, the radio is turned off. It would still require a meter reader to go to the site to take measurements on regular basis. There are additional costs associated with that.”
At the special budget workshop, Fontaine said he had a number of additional questions about AMI, which was fifth and final item on the agenda.
“This is a very important capital project,” he said.
Council approve Fontaine’s motion to continue the conversation at a future meeting, when council members would have more opportunity to discuss the issue.
Coun. Nadine Nakagawa asked that it be a priority item at a future meeting.
“We've already bumped up this topic and it is an important infrastructure topic,” she said. “Maybe we can get it to the top of the agenda.”
