Nebraska Public Power District beings upgrading electric metering equipment in Kearney

Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) began yesterday upgrading electric metering equipment in Kearney, Nebraska, as part of a 2018 program to replace 43,000 electric meters in 33 communities served at retail by NPPD.

The new meters feature Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and will have an electronic circuit board module that will securely receive and transmit usage data to NPPD. The meters being replaced are electro-mechanical devices, which display readings in digital LED format.

The AMI meters will enable NPPD personnel to automatically read electric meters from service centers, which NPPD said will improve customer service and billing troubleshooting, electric service reliability, power quality and employee safety.

“The installation of the AMI systems will help maintain competitive electric rates by reducing operating expenses,” NPPD Retail General Manager Tim Arlt said. “With these units we can also pinpoint the exact location of outages quicker, meaning a faster response time to restore power.”

NPPD will also install routers in strategic locations in the community to relay the information to NPPD’s operations.

NPPD’s customer service organization will contact customers to alert them to the installation of the meters. An NPPD employee will switch out the meters and remove the old meter from the premises. There will be a short interruption of electric service during replacement. The customer does not need to be present for the switch.

The remaining schedule for installation in effected NPPD-retail communities continues through the majority of 2018, although weather conditions could cause delays.