Residents learn about smart meters at NYSEG event
The president and CEO of New York State Electric & Gas met with community members Wednesday at Lockport Town Hall to answer questions about smart meters. NYSEG is seeking the go-ahead from homeowners across Western New York to switch their homes to smart meters.
Residents have taken to social media to express concerns about what conversion means for their electric bills.
According to a NYSEG fact sheet, a smart meter is an electric meter or natural gas meter with two-way wireless communications with the utility's secure data center. It transmits energy use and meter status automatically. This meter eliminates the need for personnel to read electric meters, and makes detection of power outages automatic. Residents can use Energy Manager, an online tool, to more precisely observe their energy use and costs.
NYSEG CEO Patricia Nilsen said the meters ensure that a customer gets a bill on an actual reading.
'With Energy Manager, they can monitor their energy by the hour. Customers can go back two days to see what was used. So if they plugged in an electric car, they can see the difference.'
Nilsen said that if the power goes out, smart meters send an alert to the household address. This allows utility trucks to stop only where they are needed, rather than going door to door.
Homeowners have expressed concerns that the utility can control a home's power use remotely through the smart meter, Nilsen said, and impose 'black outs.' She assures customers that this is not the purpose for smart meters.
Some homeowners have claimed on social media that their utility costs increased after their smart meter was installed, Nilsen said. Most often, she said, this impression is due to customers receiving estimated utility reads before their smart meter was installed, and seeing a difference with the actual bill.
According to an October commentary by Christine Alexander of NYSEG, the company, along with RG&E, sends out 2 million bills a month. She said less than half a percent leads to customer complaints. Alexander said the company encourages customers to call so a customer service representative can go line by line through their accounts and better understand what factors may actually be leading to billing variations.
Town residents Reggie Rosati and Kathy Galus attended the information session and were able to have their questions answered. Rosati said she walked in unhappy, having received a bill for $1,500 last month. She said she was ready to opt out of the smart meter, but after learning more had changed her mind. NYSEG staff went through Rosati's utility charges and decided that her old meter needed to be replaced at no charge.
'It's definitely the way to go,' Rosati said. 'I'm going to give it a chance.'
Galus described reading utility bills as 'reading Greek.' She said she felt better after speaking with NYSEG staff.
To speak with a NYSEG customer service representative, call 800-572-1111 (NYSEG) or 800-743-2110 (RG&E).
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