Across the nation, electric cooperatives are deploying advanced communication and automation technologies to improve services, increase reliability and help to control electricity costs for members through improving energy efficiency.
As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found in its 2008 survey, co-ops lead the industry in the penetration of advanced meter infrastructure, which is often referred to as AMI.
- Cooperatives’ advanced metering penetration increased from 3.8 percent in 2006 to 16.4 percent in 2008, according to FERC. That is well above that of the industry as a whole.
- More than 50 co-ops and public power districts in 15 states are receiving $215.6 million in smart grid investment grants from the Department of Energy.
- A total of 27 co-ops in 12 states are participating in the Cooperative Research Network’s smart Grid Demonstration Grant, supported by a $34 million matching grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
- Approximately half of cooperatives have installed AMI infrastructure on part of all of their system, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s market research division.
- About 30 percent of cooperatives with AMI have begun to integrate their metering systems with other systems such as outage management systems, customer information systems and geographic information systems, according to NRECA market research.
Several electric co-ops are currently installing advanced metering system to help their members improve their energy efficiency. Other co-ops are updating their systems and smart grid meters get even smarter.