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

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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 50
2. FortisBC does not anticipate any significant increases in the bandwidth required to the
field devices that the proposed AMI project will service, or an increase in the number of
devices of sufficient quantity to render the chosen technology unsuitable within the
planning horizon (20 years).
Response:
31.2 Explain the impact of AMI meters on the 900 MHz communication band.
FortisBC anticipates very minor impacts to the 900 MHz license exempt communications band
in its service area due to a wireless mesh AMI deployment. This is a function of the very small
amount of data each meter will need to transmit daily, and the expected poor propagation
expected from meters located near ground level within significant clutter (houses and foliage).
A realistic estimate of the expected spectrum utilization in the most dense areas is near 0.3
percent, and even worst case assumptions, would yield use of no more than 3 percent of the
available spectrum in the 902-928 MHz band.
Response:
31.2.1 Do AMI meters interfere with internet services in rural communities?
[http://www.valleyvoice.ca/_pdf_2012/ValleyVoice120711web.pdf].
The AMI meter technology chosen by FortisBC operates in the 902-928 MHz license exempt
band. The selected meter technology uses narrowband signals that hop to multiple different
frequencies in the band. In addition, when the network is functioning as designed, meters only
transmit for a very small fraction of time. The meter network will only use a very small fraction
of the spectrum for a very short duration of time.
On the other hand, some technologies used to deliver broadband services are wideband, and
require almost the entire 902-928 MHz spectrum when transmitting. Most of these technologies
are designed to be unaffected by a narrowband signal such as those being transmitted by an
AMI meter.
FortisBC acknowledges that even though the two technologies have been designed to co-exist,
there are situations where small amounts of interference may be experienced by both parties.
The amount of this interference depends greatly on a number of factors, but in the FortisBC
service territory no appreciable amount of interference is expected.