As Texas made history this summer with extreme, record-breaking temperatures, the top 10 percent of residents across the state who used smart meter technology to participate in the Biggest Energy SaverSM Campaign cut their usage by nearly a third, or enough to power approximately six average homes. In June, Texas’ biggest electric delivery utilities—CenterPoint Energy and Oncor—along with advanced metering system providers—Itron and Landis+Gyr—launched an unprecedented campaign to jumpstart the market for customer-friendly energy-management tools, while demonstrating to consumers the benefits made possible by using information from smart meter technology.
At the launch of the contest, Texas regulators underscored the importance of leading by example. The Biggest Energy Saver contest generated interest from every state in the U.S. and more than 80 countries. In the period following the contest announcement, the Smart Meter Texas portal experienced a boost in registration of 172 percent over the same period last year. The average savings for the top 10 percent of contest participants during the contest period was 26 percent. During the contest period, the average home consumed 3,888 kWh per month while the top 10 percent of consumer contest participants used an average of 3,604 kWh per month.
Launched in June 2011, the Biggest Energy Saver Campaign was created to spark development of new apps that will help customers easily understand and use information from their smart meters, while rewarding customers who make the most of their smart meter data to reduce their energy usage and potentially lower their electric bills. The founding partners of the Biggest Energy Saver Campaign are CenterPoint Energy and Oncor, and the founding technology partners are Landis+Gyr and Itron. IBM was also a collaborator, and GE and Tendril are prize partners.
