Appalachian Power installing remotely readable meters in Virginia
Appalachian Power began upgrading some of its meters in Virginia this week with new technology that allows the company to read meters remotely.
The company plans to install 54,000 Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters in the Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Lynchburg and Lovingston areas.
Appalachian’s current meters use radio frequency technology and requires an employee to drive past a home or business in a company vehicle in order to read its meter. The new meters use radio and cell phone technology to send readings directly to the company without requiring an employee to be in the meters’ vicinity.
The meters also allow Appalachian Power to remotely connect and disconnect meters, which is especially useful because of the universities in the areas where the AMI meters are being installed. As students come and go, the company performs a high number of connects and disconnects. The new technology can also remotely alert the company of outages.
Customers will not be charged for the meters, and the upgrades will not affect customers’ bills. Installation takes approximately 15 minutes and requires a short power outage while the technician installs the meter.
