CenterPoint Energy 2009 Annual Report Download - page 11

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E L E C T R I C T R A N S M I S S I O N & D I S T R I B U T I O N
INSTALLING SMART METERS AND AUTOMATING
THE ENERGY DELIVERY SYSTEM IS BIG.
INTEGRATING THESE NEW TOOLS INTO A
NETWORK THAT GIVES CONSUMERS MORE
CONTROL OVER THEIR ENERGY USE AND
REDUCES THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL POWER
PLANTS IS HUGE.
• Talk to home area networks, enabling
smart appliances to “go to sleep,”
“wake up” or run on the lowest power
settings when no one is home.
• Be read remotely instead of manually
in the field and provide usage data
in near real-time, 15-minute intervals.
This makes possible new products and
services, such as energy analysis
tools as well as prepaid and time-of-
use rates.
• Integrate into the distribution grid
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and
renewable resources, such as rooftop
solar and small wind power systems.
• Report power outages automatically
without customer calls, allowing our
intelligent grid to self-analyze and
make remote repairs to reduce outage
duration and frequency.
SMART METERS WILL:
Visit CenterPointEnergy.com/annualreports/2009 for an in-depth exploration of Energy InSightsm, including
an interview with Thomas R. Standish, senior vice president and group president, Regulated Operations.
can give consumers valuable insights about their
energy use. As an added benefit, smart meters
will also enable communication with future smart
appliances in homes and businesses.
e meters enable REPs to provide new products
and services in the restructured Texas electric
market. Several REPs are now offering prepaid
service, time-of-use rates and energy analysis
tools that promote conservation and help
consumers save money.
In addition, smart meters give CenterPoint
Energy the ability to speed up routine
transactions, such as remotely turning on
new electric service and switching REPs. ese
new meters will also automatically notify us
when the power goes out.
Smart meters are only the beginning. e
intelligent grid, featuring power line automation
and sensor technologies, combined with smart
meters, will make it possible to remotely detect
and identify outage types and locations. It will
also be able to self-heal, rerouting power around
the problem to minimize service disruptions to
customers. ese improvements will contribute
to fewer and shorter outages, improved customer
service and more effective use of our workforce.
e smart meter and intelligent grid will also
work together to reliably integrate power from
other sources, including rooftop solar panels and
plug-in hybrid vehicles, into the electric grid.
is technology will enable a new generation
of demand-side management programs, help
consumers save energy and reduce the need
for new power plants. More details about this
project are online at CenterPointEnergy.com/
EnergyInSight.
Beyond our new technology deployments,
we have several projects that are delivering
environmental solutions today. Clean-air
technology initiatives include converting off-
road vehicles such as forklifts to electric motors,
lowering nitrogen-oxide emissions by 2,000
tons in 2009. For the eighth consecutive year,
we received the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR Sustained
Excellence Award for our home builder program.
We also received an EPA award for reducing
sulphur hexafluoride fluorocarbon (SF6) emissions
from electric circuit breakers and transformers.
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