[MotoSook]

My beloved Illinois...

ComEd Smart Meter Pilot Approved by Illinois Commerce Commission | Reuters

ComEd customers will start receiving their new meters as early as November. If
ComEd's application for $175 million in federal matching funds from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is approved, the number
of customers that receive new smart meters could more than double from 131,000
to 310,000 customers.


A smart meter is a digital electric meter that collects usage information
every 30 minutes and sends that information to ComEd through a secure network.


When the pilot is fully implemented in early summer 2010, this new technology
will:
-- Provide customers with daily usage information, accessible through the
Internet, to help monitor their energy use and manage energy costs.
-- Enable ComEd to access important account information on demand, so
customer service representatives can provide more complete
information,
more quickly.

-- Allow ComEd to begin assessing the potential operational,
environmental
and other benefits of smart meters for all ComEd customers.

Where is the technical advantage? How often does a home owner call ComEd to discuss energy use such that an agent would need easy access to information from the meter? The only time I call ComEd is when they screw something up! Should I expect to call ComEd and tell them I have been good about my energy usage as verified by my meter data, so they should lower my rates?


Edit_ I see the advantage as ComEd will no longer need meter readers and billing data will be easily available for their accounting folks to bill us on a more timely manner, every month using actual data. So with the efficiency in data capture we should expect a lower rate, right? Reduced number of meter readers, reduced costs associated with the meter readers, so therefore reduced cost to the consumer.....I don't think so.