Letter of Support_Interstate Power & Light Smart Grid InitiativesCity Manager's Office
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864
(563) 589-4110 phone
(563) 589-4149 fax
(563) 690-6678 TDD
ctymgrQcityofdubuque.org
July 30, 2009
THE CITY OF
DuB E
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RE: Letter of Support for Interstate Power and Light Company's Demand Response
Deployment grant application to DE-FOA-0000058
Dear Committee Members,
am writing this letter in support of Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) and its
effort to obtain partial funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) for its Smart Grid initiatives as requested in the referenced grant application.
While IPL is committed to implementing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
technology throughout its service territory in the next three years, the Smart Sustainable
Dubuque Initiative takes that initial step of expanding on the foundation for Smart Grid
and will serve as an example to not only IPL and the State of Iowa, but the entire
country of what possibilities are available through Smart Grid technology.
This initiative will give customers direct access to technology that provides them insight
into their real-time energy usage. This opportunity will help educate customers through
various energy efficiency and energy management programs, real-time energy
consumption information and awareness of how their energy consumption behavior
impacts their energy costs and offering ways to mitigate those costs. Implementation of
this technology will also allow IPL to evaluate customer response, it will improve
efficiency in customer service and billing activities, improve emergency response and
load management, all before large scale implementation.
AMI is an important first step, providing the smart meters and communication
infrastructure that is the foundation for Smart Grid. The Smart Sustainable Dubuque
Initiative is the next step toward establishing Smart Grid. This ARRA funding could be a
catalyst for continued Smart Grid investment by IPL as the market and technology
matures.
Sincerely,
Roy D. Buol
Mayor
RDB:jh
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork