July 20, 2018 — SaskPower is launching the deployment phase of its second pilot for commercial and industrial smart meters.

The pilot will see the installation of 7,500 smart meters on commercial and industrial customers. This builds on the pilot of over 500 meters last year.

The first meters installed as part of this pilot will be on SaskPower’s largest business customers across the province who have already opted to receive one. An additional 750 small and medium business customers will be notified later that they have been selected to take part. This will allow SaskPower to test its business processes and communications network across the province prior to full deployment, the company says.

“We learned from what happened in 2014. The meters we’re installing exceed industry standards. Any meter we install in the future will meet a new, more rigorous specification developed specifically for Saskatchewan,” said SaskPower’s vice president of asset management, planning and sustainability, Tim Eckel. “The meters are then tested to ensure they meet this standard by an internationally recognized, third party tester.”

SEE ALSO SaskPower reports 7th smart meter failure; suspends installations

The smart meter pilot is a step towards building a smart grid for Saskatchewan in 5-10 years, the company says.

Residential smart meters for homes are not planned until SaskPower identifies a meter that meets new, more rigorous safety standards and passes the same level of testing that has been applied to the commercial and industrial meters.