Glendale Water & Power (GWP) will soon start one if its largest utility projects, replacing all electrical and water meters in Glendale with new Smart Meters. This $28.5 million project, which was recently approved by the Glendale City Council, will greatly enhance efforts by GWP and its customers to conserve water and energy use.
“Glendale Water & Power is ready and excited to embark on of its largest projects which will help the utility and our customers by providing real time usage information, changing the way we do business and putting us in the forefront in the utility industry,” says Glenn Steiger, General Manager of Glendale Water and Power. “This new technology will not only improve the services we offer, it will also help us develop a smarter rate structure for our customers.”
Over the next two years Glendale Water & Power will install more than 120,000 electric and water meters with advanced technology that will allow for two-way communication with the utility, and for the first time provide customers with real time usage data to help them conserve energy and water.
Customers, for example, will have access to information associated with home appliances, air-conditioning systems and pool pumps. It will allow customers to access the statistics of their electric and water usage instantly and get smarter about conservation.
With the help of Itron Inc, GWP will begin the development of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure needed to support and operate the new meters. GWP will begin installing the new meters in 2010 with completion expected by early 2011.
Updates of the ongoing Smart Metering project will be available on the utility’s website and GWP will also be sending bi-monthly updates to customers via its From the Source newsletter, which is mailed to customers homes every two months.