PPL Electric Utilities reached a milestone this month with the installation of its 500,000th automated meter.

"Automated metering is one of the largest investments we have made in customer service and improved efficiency — an investment that we believe will improve customer satisfaction," said Michael E. Bray, president of PPL Electric Utilities.

This $160 million project began in May 2002. By the end of 2004, PPL Electric Utilities will replace all of its 1.3 million customer meters. It is the largest electric utility automated metering project in the country to date using two-way communications technology.

With automated metering, PPL Electric Utilities no longer will send employees out each day to read meters manually. Automated meters transmit electricity use information back to PPL Electric Utilities through power lines.

"Automated metering greatly reduces the number of estimated bills because of bad weather, overprotective pets and other factors," Bray said.

And because the technology uses two-way communications that enable the company to send signals to the meter, it can make other service enhancements — such as options for managing electricity use — available in the future.

"Automated meters enable us to collect more detailed information about the ways customers use electricity, which will be important to customers with the development of a competitive electric market," Bray noted.

All of the meters replaced to this point have been in the Allentown, Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Lancaster and Reading areas. This spring, meter replacements will begin in northeastern Pennsylvania.

In most cases, meter replacements take less than 5 minutes and can be completed without interrupting electric service. Customers do not have to be home when the meter is replaced.

Automated metering will affect about 175 meter reader positions and related jobs in metering operations across the company. Some of those positions are vacant already and are being filled with temporary workers.

"Our meter readers have done an outstanding job through the years, serving customers and representing the company well," Bray said.

"Although technology has provided a more effective way to read meters, we appreciate the work done by our meter readers and are making efforts to place them in other positions within the company," he said.

PPL Electric Utilities has contracts with two companies to provide automated metering technology. DCSI, a subsidiary of ESCO Technologies, provides the metering that will be used for more than 99 percent of customers. Comverge Technologies provides metering for about 6,000 large business customers receiving electric service at 480 volts and above.

PPL Electric Utilities Corporation is a subsidiary of PPL Corporation.