Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHEC) is an electric utility wholly-owned by Emera Inc. Bangor Hydro serves a population of 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine. Bangor Hydro is a member of the New England Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and with the New Brunswick Power Corp. to the north [1].
"The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved an investment of nearly $8 million in Smart Grid infrastructure investments for Bangor Hydro Electric Company. While Federal Stimulus funding for the project was not awarded, the MPUC has approved nearly all aspects of Bangor Hydro's investment." [2]. As indicated in [2], BHEC bases its smart grid project on existing smart meters which are already available to 97% of its customers. The project which started in 2009 is expected to be complete by 2011 [3]. After completion, the utility expects the annual customer savings of $2.5 million. The utility’s Smart Grid project mainly involves dynamic supply pricing for participating customers with an additional benefit of lower off-peak pricing [4]. This project provides in-home energy solutions to benefit the BHEC customers, support energy independence and provide tools for customers to manage their electricity consumption and costs [2].
