Dive Summary:
- Peco Energy Co. is proposing an accelerated smart mater installation plan that will serve all of its 1.6 million customers by the end of 2014, which is five full years ahead of schedule.
- The Philadelphia utility is seeking approval to spend $282 million to complete the installation by the end of next year, but says the new timeline will save $58 million.
- Last year, several of Peco's new meters overheated and caught fire, which stalled the original installation plan for months.
From the article:
Confidence in Peco's program was shaken last year after several of the new electronic devices overheated and caught fire. After the fires, which Peco called "meter events," the utility suspended the program for two months and replaced 186,000 newly installed devices with equipment from another manufacturer.
Peco resumed installations in October and says 600,000 meters will be installed by June, concluding the first phase of the program. In the second phase, Peco would install 1.2 million more meters (some customers have more than one). ...