BUFFALO, N.Y. — Early next year, National Grid is starting the process of rolling out smart meters to customers in Western New York. Beginning in January, 4,100 customers here will get the new meters.
450,000 National Grid customers in other parts of the state already have the new smart meters, replacing previous ones installed about 25 years ago. The new smart meters send back energy usage in real time through cell or ethernet networks.
"They will be able to look at how much energy they're consuming at the very moment that they're looking at our website, and what we're ultimately trying to do is get customers to become smarter, more efficient consumers of electricity," said Ken Kujawa, Regional Director of National Grid.
"We are hearing really good feedback from customers. We have not, you know, the high bill thing, we haven't seen that. We're really seeing if customers call in, they have questions, you know, it's a new technology, they just want to know more about it. They want to know how it can help them," said Kristine O'Shaughnessy, Advanced Metering Infrastructure, Director of Customer, Community and Regulatory Engagement.
An app will debut next year for customers to see any phantom energy that could be wasted at home and how much electricity each appliance uses.
And, with the new meters, National Grid will automatically know about power outages.
"We should have a pretty good idea based on where we're seeing outages in a neighborhood, or on a feeder, what the piece of equipment is that was impacted whether it was a transformer, a service wire, or maybe a fuse. Then we're going to know what crew, or what vehicle, or what equipment has to go out to that site to make those repairs so that we can restore power more quickly to our customers," said Kujawa.
National Grid also said this could end up positively impacting costs down the road.
"If customers are making smart decisions on how they use energy, that's going to have a positive impact on market prices for electricity. It's going to have a positive impact on the investments that we need to make in our infrastructure. Hopefully, it reduces the need to a degree that National Grid has to ask for money in future rate cases because consumers are using energy more efficiently," said Kujawa.
After the initial group this winter, more customers will get the smart meters by this coming summer. And by the summer of 2027, all 543,000 National Grid customers in Western New York will have them. Letters will start going out soon to the first 4,100 customers.
You'll get roughly a ten day notice for when they'll be at your house to swap out your meter, and you don't have to be home unless your meter is inside. Your power does go out for a few minutes, so if you have a medical device, they will make an appointment with you so you know exactly when they're coming.
