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Electric smart meter replacement about halfway complete
Hastings Utilities wants to remind customers it continues to replace existing residential electric meters with smart meters throughout the Hastings community.
To date, two years into the replacement project, about 7,100 out of around 13,500 smart meters have been installed. The entire replacement project is anticipated to take about four years to complete.
The location of meter replacements is randomized. Meter replacement cannot occur in the same part of the service area whereas meter readings are occurring and the neighborhoods where meter reading takes place change every day.
Service personnel from the Utility Department must be on customers’ property to physically install the electric smart meters during the replacement timeframe. Service personnel knock on the residence before replacement, but move quickly to remain on schedule.
Smart meters are part of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) from Tantalus Inc. that allows for two-way communication between a meter and Hastings Utilities’ customer service department.
Hastings Utilities also reads meters using automated meter reading (AMR) technology. AMR utilizes radio frequency to collect readings from a meter, typically from a handheld and mobile receiver.
The smart meter currently being installed in the Hastings grid is able not only to report its own reading, but it also collects signals and readings from around 25 other, nearby meters as well.
There are several major benefits with the implementation of an AMI system.
Reliability and Power Outage Restoration: Smart meters and the Utilities Outage Management System will identify a power outage and the area affected within seconds. Pinpointing where the power is out will save on restoration time and restoring power back to the customers. When optimizing smart meter data and alerts properly by staff, some outages can be prevented.
Improving Customer Service: Smart meters are able to report daily data and, on some services, every hour. Customers can have real-time data to forecast a bill or to monitor their usage.
Employee efficiency: The AMI system has reduced the need to manually or drive by meters to obtain readings.
Published Date: 12/ 6/2023