Plan-it Wise Energy Program

Three new pricing options, including one with rebates for limited-income customers, and advanced metering, better known as "smart meters" for all 1.2 million Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) customers, are among recommendations that have been filed with the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC).

CL&P is also recommending that customer installations begin in the latter part of 2012, once a series of industry standards are in place.

While the program is estimated to cost nearly $500 million over the next 20 years, the costs will be outweighed by overall benefits that approach $600 million. These benefits include giving CL&P customers the tools to better control their energy usage, improving the company's outage detection and restoration accuracy, improving electricity theft detection and reducing meter reading costs.

CL&P estimates that with this program, peak demand for power by our customers would be reduced annually by approximately 125 megawatts, the equivalency of not running a small electricity generation plant. In addition, customers would reduce their total energy usage annually by about 190 million kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to the amount of electricity used annually by 20,000 homes. Connecticut would also see a reduction in carbon emissions of approximately 100,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to taking over 13,000 cars off of state roads.

View the complete recommendations report here. [PDF:158 KB]

View the appendices here. [PDF:14034 KB]

The filing is the latest step by CL&P in pursuing advanced technology to benefit its customers, following its successful Plan-it Wise Energy program last summer. In that program, approximately 1,500 commercial and industrial customers throughout CL&P’s service area and 1,500 CL&P residential customers from Hartford and Stamford participated in a pilot study of smart meters and new energy pricing options.

View the complete summer pilot report here. [PDF:91 KB]

View the summer pilot report appendices here. [PDF:1211 KB]

Smart Meter	Used by residential customers in the pilot; part of a system that collected and transmitted information about electricity usage to CL&P, and then back to the customer via a two-way wireless network.