Digital Utility Group
The mission of this group is to bring together utility professionals in the power industry who are in the thick of the digital utility transformation.
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Palo Alto Gets Smart Meters
Palo Alto, one of the towns comprising California’s famed Silicon Valley, is finally getting smart meters. Here’s how the move is described by PaloAltoOnline:
“After eight years of wavering, debating and planning, Palo Alto is preparing to begin its switch to "smart meters," a $20 million move that city leaders believe will make local electric, gas and water utilities more efficient and reliable.”
The article notes that the city opted not to adopt smart meters back in 2012 for fear that the technology’s high price was not worth its benefits. In 2018, they reversed course and started talks that are coming to fruition now. The move will require a significant amount of reorganizing: decommissioning 7 meter reader positions, hiring an AMI manager, AMI systems technician and MDMS data analyst, and retraining a lot of employees.
The article doesn’t say how much the change would have cost back in 2012, but I wonder how much more could it have been? Or is it just that the benefits have become more obvious?
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