Metering.com 1 June 2017
US energy provider Duke Energy Kentucky received approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission to deploy its smart meter project.
In a press statement, Duke Energy Kentucky said the approval of its smart meters project will enable the installation of 143,000 advanced (AMI) electric meters and 103,000 automated meter reading (AMR) gas meters.
Duke Energy Kentucky, smart and analogue meters
The smart meters will be installed in the utility’s service territory in Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Grant and Pendleton counties to replace existing analogue gas and electric meters and first generation smart electric meters deployed during a pilot project.
However, Duke Energy Kentucky has also reached an agreement with the Kentucky Office of Attorney General to allow its electric customers who do not wish to have their analogue electric meters replaced with the new AMI meters to opt out of the programme.
Customers who opt out of the AMI meters programme will pay a monthly fee of $25 which will be used to cover expenses associated with manual meter readings. Those who will choose to opt out of the project once they are equipped with the smart electric meter will pay a one-time fee of $100.
Gas customers will not be able to opt out of the AMR programme.
With the new smart meters, Duke Energy Kentucky said it will improve accuracy in energy billing, outage detection and service restoration, and reduce costs associated with manual meter readings.
The project will help the utility to keep consumer energy bills low through their participation in new energy efficiency and demand response programmes. [Duke Energy extends modernisation effort with $13bn investment].
EV adoption
Duke Energy plans to play a role in improving the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) by making sure its grid infrastructure is able to accommodate energy demand from EVs.
The energy company has plans to increase the number of EV charging stations in its service territory in North Carolina under efforts to promote the use of EVs by investing up to $1 million towards the construction of new charging stations.
In a press statement, the utility firm said the $1 million capital will be used to construct close to 500 EV charging stations in 50 counties in North Carolina state.
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