Compact with the Customer
Working to create a more sustainable future
Most SMUD customers glance at their electric bill once a month and simply pay the amount due. They don't think about their publicly owned utility much, and in one sense, that's good. It means SMUD is doing its job - providing reliable electricity at affordable rates.
Without losing sight of the importance of meeting the region's daily energy needs, SMUD must look much farther ahead. If Sacramento is to reduce its reliance on carbon-based fuels and meet the ambitious goals set by SMUD and the California legislature for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, how do we get from here to there?
The Compact with the Customer will help bridge that gap. SMUD is investing in new technologies that will provide customers the information to make their own choices about energy use. Between 2009 and 2011, SMUD will install more than 600,000 advanced two-way meters that will help customers use energy more efficiently.
A new relationship with customers
While the meters make good sense for SMUD because they will reduce operating costs and improve reliability, this technology will also provide the foundation for a new relationship between SMUD and its customers.
The new technologies will allow customers to make energy choices based on cost, comfort and convenience. Imagine a future where your appliances, electronic devices and programmagle thermostats communicate with your electric meter, or where you can up your energy profile on a laptop or cell phone from any location at any time of the day. That day is coming.
The value comes not from the actual meters but from the increased information and capability the technology will provide customers. When integrated, these technologies will form what many are calling the "smart grid."
Developing the framework for a smarter grid
The smart grid has the potential to transform utilities, allowing them to provide the sort of access and customer control now seen in other industries such as banking, travel and telecommunications.
In 2008, SMUD developed a vision for the deployment of a smart grid that will tap into the entrepreneurial efforts of the burgeoning clean technology industry.New battery technologies beging developed and tested in making distributed renewable technologies a viable - and cleaner - alternative to large power stations.
SMUD is also expanding its communication efforts to help customers better understand what's coming and introduce them to the benefits of these exciting technologies.
The "Save Today, Save Tomorrow" marketing campaign that was launched in 2008 was one of the first steps in linking today's actions with tomorrow's results.
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