PG&E tipped to sign $1.7 billion contract for smart meter roll-out

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) is being tipped to sign a contract with General Electric and Landis+Gyr, a provider of integrated energy management solutions, for a $1.7 billion smart meter roll-out.

According to metering.com, the programme will include both gas and electric meters. The value of the metering portion of the programme is estimated to be around $450 million.

The report, attributing the development to an “inside source”, shared that the contract is yet to be signed but it may happen before the end of August. As per the information available, the roll-out programme has been approved by California’s Public Utilities Commission to the value of $1.7 billion, but the utility has apparently gone back to the Commission for an additional $500 million in funding.

“It makes a lot of sense to have more than one supplier...( especially when) we’re going to be deploying something on the order of 10,000 to 12,000 meters per day,” reportedly said PG&E senior director of the smart energy web programme, Andrew Tang.

In the same report, Paul Moreno, PG&E Corp. spokesperson, said the installation of smart meters will reduce peak demand by approximately 400 MW.