Benefiting You in Many Ways
Save Energy and Save Money.
More Privacy. Help the Environment.
The new smart meters will help SDG&E technicians detect outages and restore power faster.
Benefits of Smart Meter
Save Energy and Save Money
The energy use information collected by your smart meter will allow you to make decisions about reducing your energy use.
In the future your energy use information will be available to you on sdge.com or by contacting SDG&E.
More Privacy
Because smart meters send information electronically to SDG&E daily, SDG&E’s meter readers will no longer have to enter your property.
For quality assurance purposes, meter readers will continue to read your smart meter for the first few months.
Find Problems Faster
Smart meters help SDG&E find outages quickly so we can identify and fix the problem faster.
Help the Environment
Smart meters can help you save energy which saves natural resources and reduces the need to build new power plants or other equipment.
Enabling Future Smart Homes and Businesses
Smart meters can provide additional benefits including sending you notification when your bill reaches a certain amount and controlling smart appliances at your home or business through the Internet.
Smart Meters are Already being Used
Smart meters are already serving about 7,200 businesses. These meters allow customers to take part in programs to cut costs by shifting some energy use to off-peak periods. In the near future, residential customers may get the opportunity to take advantage of similar programs.
In addition, during 2003-2004 a statewide pilot program tested similar meters and electric rates. It showed that more than 2,500 residential and commercial customers used an average of 14% less electricity during high energy usage times when they were provided the information about their energy use and costs through the smart metering-like system.
Costs
SDG&E estimates the up-front capital expense of the overall system at about $500 million. The overall savings to customers will outweigh upfront costs (over the 32-year life of the smart meter system) by $60 million to $65 million.
Just like the current meters, the cost is part of the overall bill. The cost for smart meters, as with all meters or equipment purchased by SDG&E, is part of regular business expenses and is recovered in rates.
At its peak, the cost is approximately $2.50 per month. However, there is not a separate line item for smart meters on the SDG&E bill, and this cost will diminish over time.
What Other Utilities are Doing
Smart meters are part of a statewide metering initiative. Other California investor-owned utilities, as well as utilities nationwide, are moving forward with smart meters in their service areas.
California
Nationwide
Fact Sheets
- English smart meter fact sheet (pdf) English
- Spanish smart meter fact sheet (pdf)
* By clicking the link, you will leave www.sdge.com and transfer directly to the website of a third party provider which is not part of SDG&E. The Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy on that website will apply.