Dominion Virginia Power Applies $200m Stimulus Grant For Installation Of Smart Meters

Dominion Virginia Power has applied for a $200m stimulus grant with the US Department of Energy to accelerate the installation of 2.4m "smart meters" for its customers.

Previously the company announced its "smart meter" initiative as part of a comprehensive energy conservation plan filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission. The plan would save customers approximately $1.2 billion over 15 years through energy savings and deferral or elimination of the need to construct some power stations. Its environmental benefits include reduction in carbon dioxide emissions which is equivalent to removing 165,000 cars from the road.

Paul D. Koonce, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Virginia Power, said: "The stimulus funds would allow us to have all of the 'smart meters' and related infrastructure in place by the end of 2012, a full year ahead of our current schedule. The grant also would increase customer savings from the program, help retain or create around 700 jobs directly and speed up environmental benefits. The grant would reduce the $600m cost to install the equipment by nearly a third, increasing the already-significant cost savings to the customers."

Gov. Kaine wrote: "Dominion's voltage conservation technology is an important attribute of this grant proposal. Voltage conservation allows the utility to more precisely match the voltage going into each customer to the needs of the customer. This creates energy savings throughout the day and concomitant savings in carbon and other emissions."

The benefits of the "smart meters" and other components of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) program includes: an automatic off-peak energy usage reduction of around 4% annually for typical residential customers through management of energy delivery by Dominion, option of time-based rates that enable the customers to shift electricity use to off-peak times for additional savings, proactive reporting of outages which allows for quicker restoration of service, future introduction of in-home energy displays, and AMI-enabled direct load control devices, integration of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and effective integration of green distributed generation.

The Smart Grid Investment Grant Program would provide federal assistance to cover approximately $200m of investments by electric utilities and other entities for projects that promote the goal of deployment, including development of component technologies. The department has revealed that it would notify grant recipients in October 2009.