Very soon about 100 Wake Electric residential customers in the Wake Forest, Rolesville and Youngsville area will begin testing a home energy management system through the Internet.
The six- to eight-month pilot will use a device on the electric meter that “talks” to appliances such as the thermostat and water heater. The homeowner can use the Internet or his/her smart phone to set the thermostat to go up during the day when no one is home and come on in late afternoon. The goal is to eliminate wasted energy consumption.
The profile the customer sets for energy use can be changed at any time. Turning off or readjusting appliances such as water heaters for even brief periods can noticeably affect daily energy use.
The information from the pilot will be used to implement “smart grid” technology on a wider, more comprehensive scale.
Jim Mangum, the CEO of Wake Electric, said the pilot “will provide customers with improved energy use information and technology. Our customers will be able to use new technology to have choice and control over how they use energy.”
The energy management system is a network of hardware and software that uses wireless two-way communications to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of electricity delivery and use.
The system also provides environmental benefits by helping utilities to reduce peak energy use and facilitating the connection of renewables and plug-in electric vehicles to the electricity grid. These benefits also will assist Wake Electric’s compliance with the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (REPS) legislation enacted by the N.C. General Assembly in 2007.
Wake Electric said its pilot program will include a wide variety of residential customers with one thing in common, a strong interest in energy and technology.
“Smart grid is the way of the future, and fits into Wake Electric’s long history of helping its customers manage energy use and become more energy efficient,” Mangum said.
Wake Electric is a non-profit electric utility serving 33,500 customers in Wake, Durham, Franklin, Vance, Granville, Johnston, and Nash counties.