PUC Approves PPL Smart Meter Deployment Plan

The Pennsylvania PUC approved a deployment plan for PPL Electric to deploy smart meters fully compliant with the requirements of Act 129

Though PPL currently has an AMI system which provides certain hourly interval data, the PUC said that the system (implemented prior to Act 129) does not fully comply with the requirements of smart meter systems under Act 129

PPL has said that the primary deficiency of its current system is the inability to provide customers with direct access to price and usage information through a Home Area Network (HAN). PPL also indicated that its current Power Line Carrier (PLC) system is limited in its ability to provide fifteen-minute interval data, as well as other near real-time information.

The Commission had previously determined that the ability of PPL’s existing system to provide customers validated access to hourly usage data within forty-eight hours fell short of meeting the Act 129 requirement that customers be given direct access to price and consumption information

Under the adopted deployment plan, PPL will implement a solution meeting the Act 129 requirements from 2015 through 2021. From 2015 through 2017, PPL will build the IT systems necessary to support the new system. Deployment of meters will begin with a Solution Validation phase in late 2016 through early 2017 and will include deployment of up to 50,000 meters. PPL will then begin full deployment of meters in 2017 and continue through 2019. Following the completion of deployment in 2019, the system will enter a two-year stabilization period, which will continue the process of fine-tuning the RF Mesh network and back office systems. This time period will also be used to deploy any final system enhancements or upgrades prior to full operation in 2022