FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC) Application for a Certificate of Public ...

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Response:
FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC or the Company)
Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project
Response to British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC or the Commission)
Information Request (IR) No. 1
Submission Date:
October 5, 2012
Page 236
No, FortisBC expects the power factor for the majority of FortisBC’s residential customers to be
between 0.9 and unity.
For clarity, the discussion in Section 6.1 of the Application refers to the ability of the AMI system
to determine power factor at all customer end-points. While this does include residential
customers, FortisBC’s expectation is that low power factor concerns are more likely with other
customer classes such as commercial and irrigation customers. This is because the latter often
have large electric motor loads as compared to residential customer loads which are primarily
resistive (lighting and heating).
Response:
100.1.1 Provide the estimated incremental benefit amount of billing on
detecting residential power factor.
FortisBC is unable to provide an estimate of the financial benefit at this time. Since existing
residential energy meters record only kWh consumption, FortisBC has effectively no information
related to residential power factor. Only once residential AMI meters are installed will FortisBC
be able to collect data on the power factor of individual residential customers and thus
determine the potential impact of power factor improvements on the FortisBC system.
However, as discussed in the response to BCUC IR1 Q100.1, it is expected that low power
factor issues will be more probable with other customer classes, and that residential power
factor is not expected to be a significant concern.
101.0 Reference: Project Costs and Benefits
Response:
Exhibit No. B-1, Tab 5.0, Section 6.2, pp. 98-101
Losses
101.1 Provide a copy of the Smart Grid VVO system study that shows a saving of 50
GWh or more per year.
The requested study (“Conservation Voltage Regulation Optimization Report”) was included in
the AMI Project CPCN Application as Appendix C-2. FortisBC notes that it was inadvertently
referred to as Appendix C-3 in Section 6.2 of the Application.