Pacific Power announced it is in the process of deploying smart meters for corporate and residential customers to replace aging electric meters in Easter Oregon.
The firm said that about 22,000 new meters will be installed in Adams, Arlington, Athena, Boardman, Echo, Enterprise, Helix, Hermiston, Imnaha, Joseph, Lostine, Milton Freewater, Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Rieth, Stanfield, Umatilla, Wallow and Weston.
The installations are set to begin the week of May 13 and will continue until August. The project is part of a statewide rollout of 590,000 smart meters which began in January 2018 in Independence, Oregon.
“We’re installing smart meters here in Eastern Oregon as part of an upgrade for the homes and businesses we serve,” said Lori Wyman, Pacific Power’s regional business manager for Eastern Oregon. “Nearly two-thirds of our customers in Oregon are already enjoying the benefits of a smart meter, and we look forward to bringing this technology to our community.”
Pacific Power said that the new smart meters will:
-Instantly track outages, resulting in faster service response and shorter outages overall.
-Let customers view their power usage hour-by-hour, so they can adjust their activity to reduce both their carbon footprint and bill.
-Provide businesses with detailed usage reporting which will help them cut costs and make investments in items that help their businesses grow.
-Update the grid to work more efficiently and better integrate renewable power sources.
Nationwide, more than 70 million smart meters are installed at homes and businesses, which includes half of all households in the U.S.
The deployment of new smart meters will also help Pacific Power hold down operating costs and improve customer service.
“This upgrade brings the future of reliable and efficient power to our region and to our state,” said Wyman. “We are connecting communities throughout Oregon, improving the way we power our customers’ lives both at home and at work.”
Access to daily energy usage information will be available to customers via a secure website. The near real-time energy usage information will let customers better understand what is driving their electric bills and help them make decisions that can save energy and money. This capability will come about six weeks after a new meter is installed, the company said.
During the installation, Pacific Power technicians will remove the old meter, install the new meter, restore service and verify the new meter is working properly.
Pacific Power will manually read the newly installed smart meters for at least one month to confirm everything is working correctly. After confirmation activities are complete in the area, meter reading will happen remotely.
