Thursday, May 27, 2010

TNMP Plans Major Smart Meter Rollout

Texas utility provider Texas-New Mexico Power is planning a major rollout of smart utility meters, the utility and its partners said Wednesday, which would tie residential customer meters to AT&T's wireless network. The deployment, which is still subject to regulatory approval, would deploy 231,000 meters for residential customers across Texas, and woul dbe the first mass residential deployment of smart meters that use a public wireless network for their backbone. Smart grid firm SmartSynch is providing the smart meters for the deployment. TNMP is looking to monitor and identify trends at its customer sites in 15 minute intervals, and comes after a pilot deployment of 10,000 units in 2009. TNMP filed its request with the Texas Public Utility Commission on Wednesday.