Utilities to receive grants

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Nov 6, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — Four electric utilities in Louisiana, including Lafayette’s public system, have been tapped for $45 million in federal Recovery Act grants, with most of the money for new “smart” meters that would help utility providers better monitor outages and let customers keep tabs on their usage.

The meters could also be used in the future to set up a system in which customers pay different rates depending on when they use power.

Lafayette Utilities System is eligible for $11.6 million, but the grant requires a dollar-per-dollar match to fund a $23 million project to install smart meters.

LUS Director Terry Huval said the city will not have the money for the match unless the Lafayette City-Parish Council approves a pending request for a rate increase that would also fund a wide range of upgrades to the city’s water, sewer and electrical system.

“The smart grid is not a consideration without the rate adjustment,” Huval said. “It will be canned.”

No date has been set for the council to vote on the issue.

Should the funding come through, all LUS customers would be outfitted with special electric and water meters capable of two-way communication with the utility company.

“You can have a real-time interface with the customers,” Huval said.

He said LUS workers would know immediately when and where power outages occur.

As the system developed, LUS could send e-mail or telephone alerts to customers if power or water use seemed out of the ordinary, he said, and customers would have the ability to closely monitor their use of electricity and water.

“They can access what their consumption and estimated bill (are) at any time of the month,” Huval said.

Pineville-based Cleco Power is in line for $20 million in grant money to help fund a $62.5 million project to provide new smart meters for the company’s 275,000 customers in 23 parishes.

“We will know sooner when we have outages and where those outages are,” Cleco Manager of Transmission Protection Dean Sikes said. “It should be faster restoration.”