Smart meters are digital meters with two-way communication that send energy use information to SDG&E. In the future, electric energy use will be recorded every hour at your home and every 15 minutes at your business. Natural gas information will be available on a daily basis. This information can help you understand how you are using energy so you can make money-saving and environmentally friendly changes.
The state of California has asked all utilities to change out existing electric and natural gas meters with new, digital smart meters as part of its energy action plan.
Smart meters and the information they provide can help save energy on high-use days, keeping the lights on for everyone. Smart meters can also help you make choices to save money on your energy bill every day.
The first group of smart meters was installed in an area of the Tierrasanta community, in the northeast portion of the City of San Diego. Smart meter installations are now ongoing in the northern part of San Diego County, then progressing to central, south and east counties in 2010 and 2011, finishing up in south Orange County by the end of 2011.
All SDG&E customers – residences and businesses – will receive smart meters. This is a mandatory service upgrade; SDG&E is upgrading all customer meters and meter-reading technology. You will be notified by mail a few weeks before your smart meter installation.
Either SDG&E or our authorized representative, VSI Meter Services, will be installing the new smart meters throughout SDG&E’s service area.
Smart meter installation hours are Monday – Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm
(unless an appointment for another time is scheduled).
Businesses:
Make sure to provide safe access to your gas and electric meters by clearing any obstructions like bushes that need to be trimmed back, items that need to be moved, or cabinets/gates that need to be unlocked.
For the safety of our installers, please unlock your circuit breaker box.
We will notify you by mail a few weeks before installation but there are several things you can do to prepare for the 5 to 15 minute electrical outage:
Most Smart Meter installations will be performed without an appointment. Every effort is made to notify customers in advance of their meter installation. In addition to a letter mailed to customers in advance based on the geographic path of installations, the installer will knock on your door before beginning work. Appointments for special needs will be handled on a case-by-case basis - more information on that option will be supplied when you receive your installation notification letter
Yes, electric smart meters have an easy-to-read digital display instead of analog dials. Gas meters will continue to have dials, as they do today.
There are no layoffs planned. Employees currently working as meter readers will be offered other job opportunities and training within SDG&E. Although a meter reader will no longer be reading the meter, SDG&E will still need to have access to your meters for safety and regular maintenance.
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.
SDG&E customers now pay a flat rate for their energy. There are no plans to charge customers for time-of-day billing.
No. The smart meters are the same size as the existing electric meters. We do not foresee the need for meter panels to be upgraded or replaced.
Smart meters run on two frequencies. The frequency communicating to the electric meter is 900 MHz (megahertz). If the premise also has a gas meter, the frequency from the electric meter to the gas meter is 2.4 GHz (gigahertz). The electric meter frequency is similar to a cell phone and the gas meter frequency is similar to a computer router. Neither device will interfere with any wireless devices in the home.
The Information Technology (IT) security controls SDG&E have in place for smart meters reflect energy industry best practices. They are designed to provide a very high level of assurance that our systems cannot be compromised.
SDG&E considers security a top priority. We take all reasonable and necessary steps to ensure the services we provide our customers are not only high quality and easily available, but also extremely secure.
In addition, we constantly monitor for evolving threats and attempts to breach security and progressively update our system protection as needed. We also regularly review, test and practice incident response processes.
We anticipate beginning to install smart meters for customers with solar energy systems in the summer of 2010.