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 48
30.1.1 Please provide the cost difference between (i) inclusion of HAN in the
advanced meters and (ii) inclusion of the capability to support a HAN
interface in the future (which may not be Zigbee).
FortisBC’s proposed AMI meters include the HAN interface on the meter register board, and
thus the interface is not optional, and comes equipped from the factory with each meter. Please
also refer to the response to BCUC IR1 Q30.2.
Response:
30.2 Please describe the alternative HAN communication protocols/technologies
FortisBC considered, and why Zigbee was selected.
Please include in your response a description of the following alternatives, and
an explanation of why they were not selected: WiFi and low power WiFi,
Bluetooth Low Energy, Z-Wave, IPv6LoWPAN, WirelessHART, Enocean, KNX,
LonWorks, X10, ONE-NET, HomePlug, Nokia Home Control Centre system
utilizing cell phone and web-based control of home appliances, Google
Powermeter and Microsoft Hohm.
Zigbee has a dominant market share in North America, and is currently the only standardsbased
protocol (Smart Energy Profile) offered by the major AMI vendors. None of the
alternative protocols listed in this question are available in Measurement Canada-certified
meters. As well, the Zigbee protocol was chosen by BC Hydro and FortisBC believes it is in the
provincial interest that home automation devices capable of connecting to electric meters in BC
use the same protocol.
Response:
30.2.1 Does FortisBC consider that specifying the use of Zigbee could result in
‘picking winners’ and so potentially negatively impact innovation over the
longer term? Please explain why or why not.
If another HAN technology/protocol becomes dominant in home automation, FortisBC expects
the market to respond with protocol-bridging gateway devices capable of interfacing Zigbee to
other protocols. These gateway devices already exist, for example devices that can interface