City outlines ‘Smart City Initiative,’ presents smart meter program with EPE
The Department of Community and Human development discussed its “Smart City Initiative” at Monday’s city council meeting.
It is a new economic development initiative that invests in the economic health of our region. In other words, using cutting-edge technology to achieve better public services.
City of El Paso Chief Resilience Officer Nicole Ferrini said El Pasoans deserve to be on the cutting edge of technology. “How do we leverage the latest and greatest in terms of better providing services to them?” Ferrini asked.
The key strategies discussed Monday include water distribution optimization and loss management, smart buildings and smart data centers.
The presentation defined “smart” as:
Energy-Smart Grids Mobility-Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations Traffic management Public Services-Public safety Energy efficient lighting.
During the presentation, Ferrini explained the multiple benefits of becoming a smart city. She says it will help El Paso reduce costs and invest in job growth, thereby allowing the city to retain its best talent.
The City will also partner with El Paso Electric to install smart meters that will allow utility customers to track their energy usage.
“If were are able to deploy something like advanced metering, and everyday El Pasoans are able to understand, before you get your bill at the end of the month, that maybe you’re using a lot of energy and it’s going to cost a lot, maybe you should adjust something,” Ferrini said, “Now, you have the opportunity to change your bottom line at the end of the month and I think that’s important to everybody.”
El Paso Electric Spokesman George De La Torre told ABC-7 there will be different types of programs with smart meters. “We can have customers, who may have a lower income option, get alerts or notifications about where they are in their energy use so that they can start maximizing and seeing real time data on what changes they need to be making in order to stay with in their budget.”
They City and El Paso Electric hope to start implementing smart city technology in 2020.
For the presentation, click here.
