Avoiding mistakes from the first smart meters

When millions of smart meters rolled out across the country at the turn of the last decade, many people hoped it would create the backbone of a digital grid.

Today, you’ll find few who think meters lived up to expectations. One survey found only 3% of advanced meters supported by the 2009 stimulus bill brought customer savings.

Mike Phillips, the CEO of Sense, is still bullish on the role of advanced meters for grid intelligence and bill savings. But as utilities start a new wave of rollouts to replace old technology, he worries they aren’t investing in the right architecture.

“Most people think of meters just as data collection devices. You have to start to change that mindset, and once you start to think of this as a distributed platform – not just a data collection device – this entire world of making use of machine learning at the edge starts to get opened up,” said Philips.

This week: a conversation with Mike Phillips on what AMI 2.0 should look like. Past deployments of smart meters didn't bring the intelligence promised. How do we avoid the same outcome?

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