IBM has been selected by Consolidated Edison Company of NY, Inc. and Orange and Rockland Utilities, both regulated operating companies of Consolidated Edison, Inc., to provide services to implement an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program with the installation of more than 3.9 million electric meters and 1.3 million gas meters.
Smart meters provide customers more insight and greater control over their individual energy usage and costs. In the future, such usage data will be accessible online and through mobile devices, providing customers with timely information and opportunities to take action to better manage how much energy they are using. AMI represents a new way for Con Edison and O&R to respond to customer needs, modernize energy infrastructure, and improve grid management.
Con Edison and O&R plans to deploy the AMI communications system and smart meters, once regulatory approvals are fully received, over a five-year period, beginning in 2017. In the first phase of the project, IBM will provide services to create the IT platform, support creation of critical business processes, and manage the integration of two new systems that will support data from approximately 5.1 million electric and gas meters across the Con Edison and O&R service territories.
"This technology transformation involving the collection, transfer and analysis of billions of data points will give Con Edison, O&R, and their customers the tools to improve decision making and reliable energy distribution," said Michael Valocchi, managing partner, IBM Global Business Services. "Together we are creating an important foundation, making New York City and the surrounding region a world-class leader, while providing customers with greater convenience and control of their energy usage."
In addition, new programs could help ease the impact of a customer's monthly energy bill. For example, smart meters will help customers gain information that will allow them to benefit from participation incentives, and take advantage of lower-priced electricity during off-peak hours.
AMI's communications backbone will provide a protected, cyber-secure communications link. Con Edison and O&R will be able to better monitor and manage distributed energy resources, such as solar, and would significantly improve outage detection, speed up restoration time, and enable grid operation at optimum voltage levels which will improve the environment by reducing energy losses.
