Nebraska consumers to receive meter upgrades

Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) officials said as a means of continually providing reliable electric service and additional safety for employees, 10 communities will soon receive electric meter upgrades.

Beginning Oct. 14, Scottsbluff customers will join those in Mitchell, Morrill, Gering, Terrytown, Melbeta, Minatare, McGrew, Bayard, Bridgeport, and Northport in the meter exchange and replacement effort. This year approximately 24,500 meters in 33 communities will be replaced as part of a three-year NPPD project.

The new meters possess two-way communication known as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which officials described as a digital metering technology used globally for over 10 years and includes the latest technology.

“In addition to what we will do this year, in 2018, we successfully replaced 43,000 meters, and more will be replaced in 2020,” Tim Arlt, NPPD Retail general manager, said. “The installation of the AMI systems helps maintain competitive electric rates for our customers by reducing operating expenses. With AMI equipment, we can also pinpoint the exact location of outages quicker, meaning a faster response time in restoring power.”

The meters will display the reading in a digital LCD format and have an electronic circuit board module installed capable of receiving and securely transmitting data back to NPPD on the total amount of kilowatt hours used by a residence, business, or industry.