Great Meter Changeout!

Era of members reading their own meters coming to end

Beginning spring 2010, North Central began a program to change out all its self-read meters to Advanced Metering Equipment which will automatically download the member's monthly electric use data over the cooperative's power lines to a computer at the North Central office.

This will be a major effort, considering approximately 8,300 meters must be replaced. A systematic approach will be implemented to change out these meters township by township, road by road. It's estimated it will take approximately three or four years to complete the changeout.

The basic technology isn't new. The cooperative has been installing the automatic metering reading equipment since 1999. The meters have been referred to as "Turtles" because they download meter data to the computer very slowly using the cooperative's electric lines. About 3,200 or 33 percent of the members are already using "Turtle Meters," although about 1,850 of these will have to be upgraded to the newer version.

Technology has improved and the new Advanced Metering Equipment provides two-way communication. The new meters will improve billing accuracy, monitor voltage, system blinks and help identify power quality issues. Our Energy Services Advisors will be able to use the data to help members with energy use concerns and our Customer Service Representatives will be better equipped to handle electric billing questions.

The main reason to change over to this new meter is to implement a new Time of Day rate schedule that will provide members the opportunity to offset the rising cost of electricity by moving some of their electric use to off-peak hours.

View the Time of Day article for more information about the new rate schedule.