The Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) will begin work next week to install advanced metering infrastructure for customers. The switch allows residents to receive updates on their energy usage while reducing overhead costs.
The new meters are free to customers, though customers can opt out of the installation for a $50 monthly fee, which will cover staff costs to manually read the meters. Installation begins on Oct. 24 and will be completed by late next year.
“Lewis County PUD’s Meter Refresh is the culmination of long-term planning to keep rates low and make our PUD more efficient,” said PUD General Manager David Plotz. “AMI meters give our team additional tools to identify outages, which will help crews get power back online faster. We are proud to deliver the benefits of these meters to our ratepayers.”
The AMI meters will allow customers to budget their energy consumption and receive notifications when they exceed their budget, which could point to a faulty appliance or malfunctioning equipment.
According to the PUD, the new meters will allow for faster power outage detection, with crews pinpointing outage locations. Residents should not expect a significant change to their service.
Though the AMI meters use radio frequency, it produces small amounts of radiation. AMI meters only transmit for one and a half seconds every two to four hours. A cordless home phone generates 1,000 times more radio frequency, while cellphones generate 10,000 times more exposure to RF than the new meters.
