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 51
FortisBC has modified its deployment plan and started a dialogue with local Wireless Internet
Service Providers (WISPs) to further reduce any potential for service impacts.
Response:
31.2.2 Do AMI meters interfere with amateur radio transmission at or near the
900 MHz ranges? [http://www.ve3ncq.ca/wordpress/?page_id=10].
The AMI technology selected by FortisBC for AMI uses similar technology to most other devices
in the 902-928 MHz band. All equipment in this band is designed with the potential to interfere
with other devices in the band, and this interference is expected to occur. Consequently, there
are mechanisms built into the technology to limit the probability of occurrence and any impact
potential interference may have on other users. This is required for all primary users in this
band, including FortisBC’s AMI network.
Some amateur radio transmission equipment that is allocated as secondary use in this spectrum
may not have these mechanisms to deal with interference built in and therefore could be subject
to interference from AMI devices. Due to the very short duration and frequency of AMI
transmissions, this interference would be minimal.
Response:
31.2.3 Would the use of PLC in these areas eliminate these issues on the 900
MHz band? If not, please explain why not.
The use of PLC in the areas where rural WISPs or amateur radio operators are operating in the
900-928 MHz band would likely eliminate the specific issues alluded to in the previous
questions. However, as discussed in section 7.5 of the Application, PLC would not provide all
the functionality FortisBC has specified, in addition to being significantly more expensive.
Furthermore, though PLC may mitigate specific issues for the frequency band in question, it can
potentially cause interference in other bands where the equipment is not capable of rejecting
and minimizing it.
31.2.4 Where AMI meters operate on the 900 MHz band, does it interfere with
the acceptable operational performance of any of the following devices:
cordless phones, crib monitors, wireless headphones, patio speakers,