PPL Electric Utilities has essentially completed the installation of 1.3 million automated meters at homes and businesses across its 29-county service area in eastern and central Pennsylvania.
"Automated meter reading has significant benefits for our customers," said John F. Sipics, president of PPL Electric Utilities. "Already, we have seen a big reduction in estimated bills — a common cause of customer complaints. We've also used automated meters to help with power-outage restoration and to support a pilot program for a new rate option."
Less than 1 percent of the bills PPL Electric is producing for customers with automated meter reading are based on estimates of electricity use — down from about 6 percent with manual meter reading.
During the recent flooding in eastern and central Pennsylvania from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan, PPL Electric used automated meter reading as a tool to verify whether customers had power at their homes and businesses. The information enabled PPL Electric to dispatch its crews more effectively.
Only a handful of automated meters have yet to be installed. Most of those are at locations where PPL Electric must schedule with customers to replace an indoor meter, or where the meter base must be repaired or replaced.
With the installation of meters essentially complete, Sipics said PPL Electric will turn its attention to evaluating additional uses for automated meter reading that benefit customers.
"One of the basic advantages of this technology is that we can read meters up to once an hour. We can gather much more information about how customers use electricity than we could by reading meters manually once a month. We are looking for ways to use the additional information to help customers better understand and manage their electricity use," he added.
More than 99 percent of the automated meters that PPL Electric has installed use a two-way communications technology developed by Distribution Control Systems, Inc. (DCSI), a subsidiary of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE).
The meters contain an electronic transmitter about the size of a credit card, which sends electricity-use information through power lines to a substation. Communications devices at substations collect readings from thousands of meters and send them to PPL Electric by telephone lines.
Comverge Technologies provided the meter-reading technology for about 6,000 large business customers of PPL Electric — customers who receive electric service at 480 volts and above.
Automated meter reading has eliminated about 175 positions related to meter reading across the company's 29-county service area.
"From the beginning of this project, we have been sensitive to job concerns about automated meter reading," Sipics said. "Working with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1600, we have been able to place meter readers in other positions with the company."
PPL Electric Utilities Corporation is a subsidiary of PPL Corporation. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) controls more than 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to nearly 5 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America. More information is available at www.pplweb.com.