Texas PUC Chair Favors Dropping HAN Requirement From Smart Meter Rules, But Still Including Some Type Of On-Demand Read Requirement

During today's open meeting, DeAnn Walker, Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas said that, as a starting point, she favors deleting the current home area network (HAN) requirements in the PUC's advanced metering system (AMS) rules, but supports including a requirement in the rules for on-demand reads, with limits

Commissioners were discussing potential changes to the AMS rules, and were providing guidance to Staff in advance of the drafting of a proposal for publication.

While Commissioners said that they will consider comments made by stakeholders during the rulemaking process, Walker said that she is inclined to delete from the current rule the HAN requirement.

Current subsection (g)(1)(J) of the AMS rule requires that a utility's AMS must have the capability to communicate through a customer's HAN with devices inside the customer's premises, including usage monitoring devices, load control devices, and prepayment systems.

Walker said that the use of HAN has gone down drastically since the PUC last received an update on the issue. Walker noted that TNMP has reported that it only has 13 HAN devices registered

Walker expressed concern with the cost of providing HAN functionality

However, Walker believes that there should be, "some type of requirement around having on-demand reads, with limits."

The rules should, "keep the ability for people to get reasonable amounts of on-demand reads if they want them," Walker said

Some limitation for on-demand reads is needed due to the impact on utility systems if unlimited on-demand reads were permitted, Walker said

Walker noted that other devices are out there that customers are currently using that provide more detailed information than HAN

Commissioner Arthur D'Andrea agreed with Walker's approach and also expressed concerns regarding the cost of HAN functionality

D'Andrea worried that maintaining HAN functionality would subsidize a small number of users and a technology that may be outdated

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