AES Ohio, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation, has announced a settlement to deploy Smart Grid Phase 2, which will continue the customer benefits and grid modernization enabled by Smart Grid Phase 1.
The settlement is predicted to allow AES Ohio to proceed with plans to invest $240 million in capital projects over a 4-year period following Smart Grid Phase 1, upon receiving approval by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). The settlement continues investments to deliver benefits to all customers in grid infrastructure, improved system reliability, performance and communication capabilities.
A residential customer on AES Ohio’s Standard Service Offer (SSO) using 1,000 kWh a month is anticipated to witness an initial increase of $1.72 per month, or about 1%. Smart Grid 1 improvements have not only reduced Customer Minutes Interrupted (CMI) by 28.5% but also minimized the requirement for estimated meter reads by 96%.
The Smart Grid Phase 2 customer benefits include:
· Continued expansion of automation of substation and distribution operations
· A new online hosting capacity map tool to support distributed energy resources and economic development
· An enhanced telecommunication network
AES Ohio also proposed to expand its Disadvantaged Communities Energy Initiative in the settlement. Currently, the initiative provides an annual budget of $2.7 million benefiting low-income customers in qualified communities.
