Smart Grid

Providing Customers with the Tools to Save

OUC is exploring the implementation of “Smart Grid” technologies that will put the power to save electricity and cut costs right in our customers’ hands.

We have applied to the U.S. Department of Energy for a $32million grant that would deploy additional electric Smart Meters to our existing system, which currently numbers 24,000 of these high-tech devices.
Smart Meters enable two-way communication with customers,providing “one on one” energy management through counter-top display technology. In other words, they tell customers how much power they’ve used,when and where they’re using it – and provide the capability to control energy usage remotely.

OUC’s goal is to leverage the technical foundations of the Smart Grid Project to offer a voluntary Pre-Pay Metering program to customers in the Orlando service area. The program will provide electric consumption and up-to-date account information that will enable customers to effectively manage their electricity usage and costs – potentially avoiding deposits, late fees and disconnect/re-connect fees. Studies have shown that Pre-Pay Metering programs encourage energy conservation, with most customers reducing consumption by about 10 percent.

Taking the Smart Grid benefits even further, OUC would be able to offer a voluntary seasonal Time-of-Use (TOU) rate program to all customers in the Orlando service area. The TOU program will provide customers with electric consumption and up-to-date account information via a web-based portal that will enable them to effectively manage their electricity usage and costs, and shift energy usage away from peak times.

OUC is committed to providing affordability, reliability and environmental stewardship. We feel that the Smart Grid project being pursued,particularly the Dynamic Pricing and Pre-Pay Metering programs, would help us achieve these goals by providing customers with the information and technology necessary to better control their use of energy and to save money. The project also will help our customers realize the benefits of investing in renewable, demand-side options such as our solar thermal and solar photovoltaic programs, and it will support OUC’s efforts to increase our renewable energy portfolio.

As Florida’s second largest municipally owned electric utility and the 16th largest nationwide, we are proud of our outstanding reliability performance, which is tops in the Southeast, and proven track record in implementing new technologies to improve service. We believe our current Advance Metering Infrastructure(AMI) system, which has been in place since 2004, provides us with the perfect foundation of required management and technical experience to success fully expand into a Smart Grid system.