In June 2008, the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) and other partners published a report which created a roadmap for developing energy efficiency and conservation programs and policies in Alaska [PDF].
One of the 23 recommendations was for the State to fund a pilot program to test the effectiveness of “smart meters,” what we are now more specifically referring to as “building energy monitors” (BEM). A building energy monitor is an electronic device that displays and/or records the current whole-building electrical energy usage for the consumer, and may also display cost information and recent historical energy usage data.
The Alaska Energy Authority, through its energy efficiency and conservation program, has implemented a smaller-scale pilot test of these devices for their ability to help residential and commercial/institutional customers conserve energy and better understand how their buildings consume energy.
In October 2009, AEA solicited bids [RFP] from local utilities to run a pilot project to test the effectiveness of building energy monitors in cutting electricity consumption. The bid was awarded to Chugach Electric Association in November 2009. Chugach Electric completed the project on time at the end of October, 2010. The full report is available below.
