Texas PUC Staff Propose On-Demand Read Requirements For Smart Meter Texas, Minimum Number To Be Provided, As Replacement For HAN Functionality

Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas have filed a draft proposal for publication for changes to the rules governing advanced metering systems (AMS, e.g. Smart Meter Texas), including proposed on-demand read requirements in place of the existing home area network functionality (HAN) requirements

As previously reported, DeAnn Walker, Chairman of the PUCT, noted the lack of usage in HAN functionality, but said that there should be, "some type of requirement around having on-demand reads, with limits."

The Staff draft would require a utility's AMS system to have, "capability to provide on-demand reads of a customer's advanced meter through the graphical user interface of an electric utility's or a group of electric utilities' web portal when requested by a customer, the customer's REP of record, or entities authorized by the customer subject to network traffic such as interval data collection, market orders if applicable, and planned and unplanned outages."

Furthermore, the Staff draft would require that, for an electric utility that provides access through an application programming interface, the AMS must have, "the capability to provide at least two on-demand reads per hour per meter of a customer's advanced meter, subject to network traffic such as interval data collection, market orders if applicable, and planned and unplanned outages."

The Staff draft would further require that, "An electric utility in the ERCOT region must be able to accommodate at least 6,000 on-demand read requests per day through this method, subject to network traffic."

Project No. 48525