BC Hydro confirms benefits of smart metering program
The smart metering program was an important and necessary investment to help BC Hydro modernize its aging electricity system.
BC Hydro has installed 1.93 million smart meters since 2011 and more than 99% of customers have a new meter.
Program completed on-time, under-budget
- The smart metering program was completed at the end of 2015 as planned.
- The program is more than $100 million below the program budget of $930 million.
- Energy theft reduction targets greater than expected.
- The program's business case projected a reduction in electricity theft to peak at 75% by the end of fiscal 2016. BC Hydro is now expecting to reduce energy theft by more than 80%.
- Prior to smart meters, BC Hydro estimated it was losing about 850 gigawatt hours per year due to electricity theft. Electricity theft is on target to be 175 gigawatt hours or less this fiscal year.
Customers benefiting from a modernized and safer electricity grid
- 98% of customers with smart meters are receiving automated bills thanks to remote meter reading. This has made customer bills more accurate due to reduced manual meter reads and bill estimates.
- More than 96% of customers with smart meters can view their hourly and daily energy use through their on line MyHydro account. This has provided customers new tools to save energy and money by knowing more about their electricity use.
- University of the Fraser Valley studies show fewer residential structure fires associated with electrical distribution equipment in B.C. since the installation of smart meters.
- More than 3,000 pre-existing unsafe meter socket conditions were repaired during meter exchanges by a certified electrician at no cost to homeowner.
- New metering technology has laid the foundation for more widespread use of small scale, green distributed electricity generation including solar and wind power.
New metering system making BC Hydro more efficient
- The business case projected BC Hydro would achieve $70 million in benefits in the first three years. BC Hydro realized $100 million in benefits during that time, primarily from operational savings.
- The new metering system is allowing BC Hydro to restore power quicker following major storm events. BC Hydro can now remotely check meters in an area to ensure power has been restored, allowing crews to move to the next outage sooner.