Posted from the Monday edition of www.dallasnews.xom, see links below
and at end of story--Tom, WW5L
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-txu_19bus.ART.State.Edition3.bf6a1c.html
TXU grid to carry Internet service
New partner to offer broadband connection using power lines
08:10 AM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005
By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
A couple million Texans may soon be able to get their Internet broadband
service by plugging into their electrical outlets.
A Maryland company is teaming up with TXU Electric Delivery to offer
North Texas consumers Internet broadband service over TXU's electric lines.
In a deal to be announced today, TXU will pay about $150 million over 10
years for an ownership stake in Current Communications Group Inc., which
will turn TXU's transmission system into a "smart electricity grid."
In turn, Current plans to offer broadband service over TXU's lines.
Current Communications uses broadband over power lines, or BPL
technology, to hook up customers to the Internet using the electrical
outlets in homes.
BPL has been touted as a cheaper, more efficient way to get broadband
service to customers who aren't easily reached with cable companies'
service or DSL service from telephone companies, or wireless service
from a cellular phone company or wireless broadband company.
However, BPL also competes head-to-head with established broadband
providers, as Current is doing in Cincinnati, where it partners with
electricity provider Cinergy Corp.
As it plans for TXU, Current is building a network atop Cinergy's system
to help Cinergy keep track of its power grid.
TXU and Current will begin designing the network that will overlay TXU's
electric distribution system. Construction is expected to begin in the
first half of 2006, with the first BPL service for consumers not
expected before the second half of the year.
Current Communications' BPL network will cover about 2 million homes and
businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and other Texas cities,
traversing the majority of TXU Electric Delivery's service area, the
companies said.
TXU Energy, Reliant and other retailers obtain power over TXU Electric
Delivery's grid.
With the consumer application not coming until later, TXU and Current
officials touted the smart-grid functions, which will allow TXU to
monitor its widespread system. TXU Electric Delivery, a part of TXU
Corp. and formerly called Oncor, operates more than 14,000 miles of
transmission lines and 100,000 miles of distribution lines taking
electricity to 3 million customers.
"Current's BPL solution is a critical enabler of our mission to
dramatically improve the way we deliver electricity," TXU Electric
Delivery chairman and chief executive Tom Baker said.
"BPL will enable us to respond more quickly and efficiently to outages
of all magnitudes, manage our distribution network more proactively and
further safeguard our dispersed critical assets in today's heightened
security environment," he said.
Added TXU spokesman Chris Schein: "We're looking at ways to increase the
system reliability and make it really a 21st-century grid."
As part of the deal, TXU would become an equity partner in privately
held Current, which is based in Germantown, Md. Other shareholders are
Cinergy, EnerTech Capital, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Google Inc., the
Hearst Corp. and Liberty Associated Partners LP. Liberty Media Corp. is
a major limited partner in Liberty Associated.
William H. Berkman, chairman and co-founder of Current Communications
Group and managing partner of Liberty Associated Partners, said the TXU
deal "is solid evidence of how BPL answers the federal government's
recent call to create a more efficient and reliable 21st-century
electricity distribution network."
One of the promised features of BPL is the ability to read meters
without having to send an employee. Mr. Schein did not commit TXU
Electric Delivery to using that function but said it was a possibility.
"We have been in the process of installing automated meter readers," he
said. "That certainly is a capability that will be available."
Last summer, the Texas Legislature approved a wide-reaching telecom bill
that set rules for installing BPL systems on electric lines. The service
faced heavy opposition from amateur radio operators concerned that radio
waves from BPL systems would interfere with existing wireless systems.
E-mail tmaxon@dallasnews.com <mailto:tmaxon@dallasnews.com>
How it works
Broadband over power lines (BPL), still in its infancy, carries a
broadband Internet signal over the electricity grid. Here's a simple
explanation of a complicated technology:
A high-speed broadband line sends the signal to a device that puts it
onto a power line delivering electricity.
Devices to repeat the signal are used to keep it strong as it moves
along the line, as necessary.
Another device extracts the signal from the line and carries it into the
electrical system of a home or business.
Devices that plug into standard 110-volt outlets pick up the broadband
signal, translate it and carry it to a computer or other equipment.
How much it costs
Current Communication's Cincinnati customers pay monthly rates starting
at $19.95 for download speeds of up to 500 kilobits a second, $29.95 for
1-megabit downloads and $39.95 for 3 megabits per second. Promotional
rates lower the $29.95 rate to $26.95 and the $39.95 rate to $34.95,
with a free month every year for all customers.
AT&T Inc., formerly SBC Communications, has promotional rates offering
its DSL service in North Texas for $16.99 a month for download speeds of
384 kilobits to 1.5 megabits per second and $21.99 for 1.5 to 3
megabits, with a six-month commitment. Customers billed month-to-month
pay $34.99 for the slower speeds and $39.99 for the faster speeds. AT&T
also has a tier of service offering speeds of 1.5 to 6 megabits per
second for $49.99.
Comcast's regular price for at least 4-megabits-per-second downloads is
$52.95 for customers who don't also buy its cable TV service, or $42.95
for cable customers. It has a current promotion offering 6-megabit
speeds for $19.99 for the first three months for new Comcast broadband
customers.
SOURCES: Public Utility Commission of Texas; broadband providers; Dallas
Morning News research
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-txu_19bus.ART.State.Edition3.bf6a1c.html
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