SaskPower is set to continue its commercial and industrial smart meter program, which will see the installation of approximately 20,000 more meters on businesses across the province. About half will go to SaskPower’s largest commercial and industrial customers who did not previously receive a meter.
“More than three-quarters of our largest customers have come to us asking for this technology,” said Shawn Schmidt, SaskPower Vice-President of Distribution and Customer Services. “Many of them have years of experience with smart meters in other places they do business and they want the same benefits for their operations here in Saskatchewan. We’re excited to bring the benefits of smart meter technology to our customers. These include actual meter readings to eliminate billing estimates and access to information that will help reduce their power consumption.”
The remaining meters will go to select small- and medium-sized businesses. SaskPower will be in contact with them in the coming weeks. All businesses who are contacted to be part of this phase of the program can choose not to have a meter at this time if they wish.
The recent announcement comes after Pilot 2 was successfully completed earlier this year after, bringing the total of smart meters installed on businesses across the province to more than 8,000. The commercial and industrial program is an early step to building a smart grid for Saskatchewan. In the future, this will mean shorter power outages for customers, more accurate billing, and it will also enable SaskPower to bring more renewable customerself generated power onto the grid.
Residential smart meters for homes are not planned until SaskPower identifies a meter that meets our new, more rigorous safety specification for Saskatchewan.
