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The upshot for consumers is they may eventually be able to monitor and control home-energy use through a cellphone that talks to a digital meter and other devices, though that service is still in development.
AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit, Verizon Wireless (a unit of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group) and other carriers are making an aggressive push to provide the wireless communications link to millions of "smart meters" being installed by electric and gas companies. Unlike older electric meters that tallied up energy use until a utility employee came to read the meter, smart meters record more information, such as when the power is being consumed and at what price. This can help utilities manage the power, and potentially aid consumers in finding cost savings.
Under the Obama administration's stimulus package, Congress has authorized roughly $4.5 billion to propel smart-grid development.
Utilities in California and Texas alone are spending $6 billion on advanced, digital meters and related systems, a key building block in a smart electric grid.
"Smart metering is a big deal for the big four wireless companies," said Steve Hilton, a consultant at the Yankee Group in Boston, referring to top U.S. wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless.
To win smart-grid business from utilities, wireless companies are slashing the monthly fee they charge to provide the communications link, providing that service, in some cases, for pennies a month for each meter. As a result, the latest technology is being pushed down to the household level instead of being restricted to commercial or industrial customers who have typically paid about $5 a month for that service.
"Wireless companies are being very aggressive with their pricing," says Neal Walker, vice president of operations for utility Texas New Mexico Power Co., or TNMP.
Texas is getting a first taste of what's ahead with a small, 10,000-meter rollout by TNMP, a unit of PNM Resources Inc., of Albuquerque, N.M. The company is expected to announce a contract Thursday with SmartSynch Inc., a smart-grid technology company from Jackson, Miss., that's working AT&T on the TNMP deal. SmartSynch has also said it's working with T-Mobile.
New smart meters installed in customers' homes will allow TNMP to read meters frequently, receive alerts about outages, and terminate or restore service remotely. Customers will be able to sign up for rate plans with peak and off-peak prices, or set appliances and lighting to turn on and off with the help of controllers installed on appliances or electric outlets.
So far, wireless companies mostly are working with meter and software companies including SmartSynch, Echelon Corp., Landis + Gyr Group and Itron Inc.
AT&T says it also wants to develop software and data-management systems of its own to help utilities and consumers mine meter information. "There's a burgeoning opportunity for us in the IT space," said Chris Hill, vice president of mobility products in AT&T's business solutions unit.
AT&T doesn't yet offer a way for consumers to use cellphones as a means of controlling the meters, but Mr. Hill said it's under development.
Under the arrangement AT&T has with TNMP, each meter will be able to send and receive information through the AT&T wireless network. The meters will be programmed to upload data to the utility once a day, most likely during off-peak times when there is plenty of spare network capacity.
This differs from a more commonplace approach in which utilities install meters that funnel meter readings and other data via unlicensed radio spectrum to collectors that aggregate the data and pass it along to utilities, referred to as the "RF mesh" approach.
Big Texas utilities, as well as Pacific Gas and Electric, a unit of PG&E Corp., in San Francisco, are taking the mesh approach. PG&E plans to spend $2.2 billion to install more than five million smart electric meters by 2012.
Paul Moreno, PG&E utility spokesman, said the cellphone-carrier wireless approach was explored in 2007, but the cost was "way too high." If the cost drops to pennies per month, he said, "we would review that really closely."
-----------------------------BY REBECCA SMITH
Source：THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Write to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith@wsj.com
Copyright ©2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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