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New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) have installed more than 700,000 smart meters for electricity and natural gas customers in their territories.
The upgrades are currently focused on seven divisions of NYSEG and RG&E, including Ithaca, Rochester, Brewster, Sodus, Binghamton, Canandaigua, Lancaster and Hornell.
Smart meters are electricity or natural gas meter modules with two-way wireless communication between the meter and the utility’s systems. They transmit usage and meter status data automatically and securely so that monthly bills are based on actual usage rather than manual meter readings or estimates. They give customers better visibility into their energy bills and help utilities detect and respond to outages more quickly.
“We are committed to meeting our customers’ energy needs and building a smarter energy infrastructure is part of that commitment,” said Pedro Azagra, CEO of Avangrid, the parent company of NYSEG and RG&E. “Not only do smart meters mean that the bill is based on actual usage rather than estimated monthly readings, but we are also seeing improvements in power outage response in the areas where they have been installed, given the recent series of storms.”
Over the next two years, smart meter upgrades will continue across all of the companies’ service areas. NYSEG and RG&E have committed to installing more than 1.3 million smart electric meters and adding 600,000 natural gas modules for customers in 17 NYSEG and RG&E divisions across the state. Customers will be notified in advance of when the installations will take place.
