Southern California Edison Project
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is the largest electric utility in California, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.8 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

On an average day SCE provides power to:

• 13 million people
• 180 cities in 50,000 square miles of service area, encompassing 11 counties in Central, Coastal and Southern California
• Commercial, industrial and nonprofit customers, including:
• 5,000 large businesses
• 280,000 small businesses

As part of SCE’s commitment to both their customers and the environment, they have developed and are implementing one of the nation’s leading “smart” metering programs called Edison SmartConnect™. SCE’s new “smart” meters are designed to reduce peak demand by residential and business customers by as much as 1,000 megawatts, an amount that equals the output of a large power plant.

Corix Utilities (US) Inc. was selected to provide meter installation services on the SCE Smart Meter project. This project will result in the deployment of 5.3 million “smart” meters to residences and businesses in the Southern California area serviced by SCE as part of the Edison SmartConnectTM program. The project’s total capital costs are approximately US $1.3 billion.

Corix will be responsible for the exchange of approximately 4.5 million of these meters. As a result, Corix will need to hire, train and manage a deployment staff of over 160 meter installers. Program meter deployment is scheduled to begin in 2009, and run for four years, ending in 2012. 

Corix began the collaboration process with SCE in 2005 and was awarded the project in 2007. The first work on the project began late in 2007 with the development and implementation of a project plan, which included timelines, computer interfaces, the testing of the systems and the development of planning and policy documents. 

The Edison SmartConnectTM program is designed to reduce peak electrical demand by having customers reduce peak electricity usage and shift a portion of their peak usage to off-peak times when power costs less. The program uses new technology that is capable of wireless communication with home area networks. This will give customers access to energy information allowing them to better manage their energy use. During the meter selection process, special attention was paid to ensuring that the new meter technology would be adaptable to future needs, upgrades and advancements. Soon, “smart” meters will be able to "talk" with emerging smart household appliances and devices, such as communicating thermostats. This will allow SCE customers a greater ability to save energy and money through automated and effortless processes.