1001 Smart Cities
🇺🇸 Los Angeles

LADWP Advanced Metering Infrastructure Rollout

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 9 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

9 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

America's largest municipal utility began swapping its meters in September 2025, seventeen years after California authorised its investor-owned neighbour's rollout. About a million were still read by hand.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🏛️ Official
what does this mean?The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byLos Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
Scale🏙️ City-wide
FundingLADWP ratepayer revenue; the 52,000-meter Smart Grid LA pilot (switched on in 2014) was co-funded by a US Department of Energy grant

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,216 documented projects · 🏙️ 12 more in Los Angeles · 🔌 Smart grid & energy guide · ⚡ Energy projects

The largest municipal utility in the United States began replacing its more than 1.5 million electric meters in September 2025, starting in Lincoln Heights — seventeen years after California authorised the investor-owned Southern California Edison next door to roll out its own. LADWP is owned by the city and sits outside the state programme that authorised those rollouts. Its 700,000 water meters are not part of it.

Live 📅 since 2025

📊 Impact

About a million of LADWP's more than 1.5 million electric meters were still read by hand when the rollout began, alongside 700,000 manually read water meters (Office of Public Accountability, September 2025). In 2026 the city's ratepayer advocate put full deployment on the power side at five to eight years or more, with no timeline yet for water.

🎓 Lesson

Across this atlas's metering entries, what makes a rollout fast is a legal mandate, not technology. Los Angeles is the converse case: California authorised the investor-owned rollouts in 2008, but that authorisation covered only the investor-owned utilities, and the city-run utility next door started in 2025.

⚡ EnergySmart grid & energySensors & IoT

Sources

↗ LA Office of Public Accountability / Ratepayer Advocate — LADWP's next smart meter project (17 September 2025)The anchor source, by the city's independent ratepayer watchdog. Verbatim: 'Starting in mid-September, homes and businesses in some areas of the Lincoln Heights neighborhood will begin receiving the next generation'; 'With more than 1.5 million electric meters, about a million of which are read manually'; 'other 700,000 manually read water meters'; 'While water meters are not part of the current effort'; 'it will take several years before all customers are upgraded'. OPA states it is 'encouraged by the utility's measured and integrated approach' and commits to 'keeping a watchful eye on rate impacts'.
↗ LADWP — Advanced Metering Infrastructure (operator)The operator's programme page: advanced meters, an RF mesh network and a data-management system, building on the 2013 Smart Grid LA programme; installation began in fall 2025 and replaces electromechanical, radio-read and cellular meters.
↗ CPUC — The Benefits of Smart Meters (regulator)Establishes the comparison and its limit: the state smart-meter programme covers only 'the state's investor owned utilities' — SCE 'approximately 5.3 million new Smart Meters', SDG&E '1.4 million electric Smart Meters and 900,000 natural gas meters', PG&E 'approximately 5 million electric meters and 4.2 million natural gas meters'. Municipal utilities are not addressed on the page.
↗ CPUC Decision D.08-09-039 — Approving Settlement on Edison Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment (September 2008)Published 18 September 2008Dates the neighbouring investor-owned rollout: the CPUC authorised Southern California Edison's Edison SmartConnect deployment and its rate recovery in September 2008, seventeen years before LADWP began its own.
↗ LAist / KPCC — LADWP flips the switch on 52,000 smart meters (1 July 2014)LADWP switched on 52,000 smart meters on 1 July 2014 under Smart Grid LA, funded by a $60 million US Department of Energy grant and $60 million from the utility. A demonstration, not a rollout: the utility did not start a citywide replacement until 2025.
Show 3 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ LADWP News — LADWP receives $60 million for smart grid projectPublished 30 November 2009Operator confirmation of the federal Smart Grid Demonstration Program award behind the 2013 pilot, with research partners UCLA, USC and Caltech/JPL.
↗ Itron — LADWP expands contract (11 June 2014)Vendor announcement, used only for scale context: 'approximately 40,000 additional cellular advanced meters and data collection software', to be 'installed over three years', supporting time-of-use and net time-of-use metering. Confirms LADWP's pre-2025 advanced metering was in the tens of thousands, not the millions. Vendor source — no deployment count is taken from it.
↗ LA Office of Public Accountability — Recommendation: treat AMI as a cornerstone investment (2026)Published 2026A recommendation from the city's ratepayer advocate, part of its 2026 report on utility affordability: LADWP has begun a multi-year deployment for the power system, full deployment will take five to eight years or more, and water has no timeline yet.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2025. 6 of 8 sources carry a publication date, from 18 September 2008 to 2026.

When the sources were published

  1. California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) · oversight bodyCPUC Decision D.08-09-039 — Approving Settlement on Edison Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment (September 2008)
  2. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) · utilityLADWP News — LADWP receives $60 million for smart grid project
  3. Itron · vendorItron — LADWP expands contract (11 June 2014)
  4. LAist · pressLAist / KPCC — LADWP flips the switch on 52,000 smart meters (1 July 2014)
  5. Los Angeles Office of Public Accountability (Ratepayer Advocate) · oversight bodyLA Office of Public Accountability / Ratepayer Advocate — LADWP's next smart meter project (17 September 2025)
  6. City of Los Angeles Office of Public Accountability · oversight bodyLA Office of Public Accountability — Recommendation: treat AMI as a cornerstone investment (2026)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 9 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence file · public beta 9 addressable claims, 8 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The file is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 9

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-8ebdaf54285750ea descriptive
The largest municipal utility in the United States
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Both the utility's own release and its meter vendor describe LADWP as the nation's largest municipal utility.
Caveat
This is how the utility describes itself; no independent ranking is cited.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. LADWP News — LADWP receives $60 million for smart grid project
  2. Itron — LADWP expands contract (11 June 2014)
Claim 2 clm-db9cbde15a0280cb quantitative
began replacing its more than 1.5 million electric meters in September 2025, starting in Lincoln Heights
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The ratepayer advocate reports the mid-September start in Lincoln Heights and the meter count; the operator page confirms installation began in fall 2025.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. LA Office of Public Accountability / Ratepayer Advocate — LADWP's next smart meter project (17 September 2025)
  2. LADWP — Advanced Metering Infrastructure (operator)
Claim 3 clm-5edc41ee1a395e1e descriptive
seventeen years after California authorised the investor-owned Southern California Edison next door to roll out its own
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The CPUC approved Southern California Edison's advanced metering deployment and cost recovery in Decision 08-09-039 of September 2008.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. CPUC Decision D.08-09-039 — Approving Settlement on Edison Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment (September 2008)
Claim 4 clm-cb5dd9e754ec8b91 descriptive
LADWP is owned by the city and sits outside the state programme that authorised those rollouts
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
LADWP calls itself a municipally-owned utility; the CPUC page describes the authorisation as covering the state's investor-owned utilities.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. LADWP News — LADWP receives $60 million for smart grid project
  2. CPUC — The Benefits of Smart Meters (regulator)
Claim 6 clm-49df87a82de7bf4d quantitative
About a million of LADWP's more than 1.5 million electric meters were still read by hand when the rollout began, alongside 700,000 manually read water meters
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The September 2025 post gives all three figures.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. LA Office of Public Accountability / Ratepayer Advocate — LADWP's next smart meter project (17 September 2025)
Claim 7 clm-18b4d4007c4edece quantitative
In 2026 the city's ratepayer advocate put full deployment on the power side at five to eight years or more, with no timeline yet for water.
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
OPA's 2026 recommendation states the duration for power and that water timelines are undefined.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. LA Office of Public Accountability — Recommendation: treat AMI as a cornerstone investment (2026)
Claim 8 clm-1a0de5c63e68914b quantitative
California authorised the investor-owned rollouts in 2008, but that authorisation covered only the investor-owned utilities
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The 2008 decision approves SCE's deployment; the CPUC page names only investor-owned utilities as authorised.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. CPUC Decision D.08-09-039 — Approving Settlement on Edison Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment (September 2008)
  2. CPUC — The Benefits of Smart Meters (regulator)
Claim 9 clm-cd0a4645b2fc9996 quantitative
the city-run utility next door started in 2025
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The operator states it would begin deploying advanced metering infrastructure in 2025.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. LADWP — Advanced Metering Infrastructure (operator)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-09-27-baseline-popular effective 2026-09-27 · created 2026-09-27

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:bb0456a4fc530f808eef2ca02de1a796cee33347e0a885cdefa4875846ac7adf
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
9
of 9 claims mapped
8
source dossiers
5
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
Actor types
utility
Funding model
utility
Funding description
LADWP ratepayer revenue; the 52,000-meter Smart Grid LA pilot (switched on in 2014) was co-funded by a US Department of Energy grant
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

8 source dossiers

LA Office of Public Accountability / Ratepayer Advocate — LADWP's next smart meter project (17 September 2025) opa.lacity.gov · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-488f889787cf7f5b
Publisher
Name not classified · opa.lacity.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-09-17
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The anchor source, by the city's independent ratepayer watchdog. Verbatim: 'Starting in mid-September, homes and businesses in some areas of the Lincoln Heights neighborhood will begin receiving the next generation'; 'With more than 1.5 million electric meters, about a million of which are read manually'; 'other 700,000 manually read water meters'; 'While water meters are not part of the current effort'; 'it will take several years before all customers are upgraded'. OPA states it is 'encouraged by the utility's measured and integrated approach' and commits to 'keeping a watchful eye on rate impacts'.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
LADWP — Advanced Metering Infrastructure (operator) ladwp.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-7830ad6951d24739
Publisher
Name not classified · ladwp.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The operator's programme page: advanced meters, an RF mesh network and a data-management system, building on the 2013 Smart Grid LA programme; installation began in fall 2025 and replaces electromechanical, radio-read and cellular meters.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
CPUC — The Benefits of Smart Meters (regulator) cpuc.ca.gov · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-e24fbcf773465673
Publisher
Name not classified · cpuc.ca.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Establishes the comparison and its limit: the state smart-meter programme covers only 'the state's investor owned utilities' — SCE 'approximately 5.3 million new Smart Meters', SDG&E '1.4 million electric Smart Meters and 900,000 natural gas meters', PG&E 'approximately 5 million electric meters and 4.2 million natural gas meters'. Municipal utilities are not addressed on the page.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
CPUC Decision D.08-09-039 — Approving Settlement on Edison Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment (September 2008) docs.cpuc.ca.gov · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-895d1eb2adc7b0af
Publisher
Name not classified · docs.cpuc.ca.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2008-09-18
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Dates the neighbouring investor-owned rollout: the CPUC authorised Southern California Edison's Edison SmartConnect deployment and its rate recovery in September 2008, seventeen years before LADWP began its own.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
LAist / KPCC — LADWP flips the switch on 52,000 smart meters (1 July 2014) laist.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-6b587867f5c7761d
Publisher
Name not classified · laist.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2014-07-01
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

LADWP switched on 52,000 smart meters on 1 July 2014 under Smart Grid LA, funded by a $60 million US Department of Energy grant and $60 million from the utility. A demonstration, not a rollout: the utility did not start a citywide replacement until 2025.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
LADWP News — LADWP receives $60 million for smart grid project ladwpnews.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-9fac2559821632d6
Publisher
Name not classified · ladwpnews.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2009-11-30
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator confirmation of the federal Smart Grid Demonstration Program award behind the 2013 pilot, with research partners UCLA, USC and Caltech/JPL.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Itron — LADWP expands contract (11 June 2014) investors.itron.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-f455045cdf292220
Publisher
Name not classified · investors.itron.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2014-06-11
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Vendor announcement, used only for scale context: 'approximately 40,000 additional cellular advanced meters and data collection software', to be 'installed over three years', supporting time-of-use and net time-of-use metering. Confirms LADWP's pre-2025 advanced metering was in the tens of thousands, not the millions. Vendor source — no deployment count is taken from it.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
LA Office of Public Accountability — Recommendation: treat AMI as a cornerstone investment (2026) opa.lacity.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-f37eb782ab96d5e1
Publisher
Name not classified · opa.lacity.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

A recommendation from the city's ratepayer advocate, part of its 2026 report on utility affordability: LADWP has begun a multi-year deployment for the power system, full deployment will take five to eight years or more, and water has no timeline yet.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this file
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇦🇹 Wiener Netze Smart Meter Rollout · Vienna What makes a rollout fast is a law: Austria hit its 95% target in 2024, while LA's city-owned utility sat outside California's mandate. 🇯🇵 TEPCO Smart Meter Rollout · Tokyo TEPCO began fitting 28m meters across Kanto in 2014; the largest municipal utility in the US started on its 1.5m eleven years later. 🇺🇸 NYC Automated Water Meter Reading Network · New York City New York put 820,000 water meters on radios from 2008 and is now replacing them; LA left its 700,000 water meters out of this rollout.

Explore the wider context

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📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “LADWP Advanced Metering Infrastructure Rollout” — Los Angeles, United States. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/la-dwp-smart-meters/ (last verified 2026-09-27). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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