Consumers Energy to Upgrade Manchester Meters in 2016

Currently we have electromechanical meters (left) and digital meters (middle) which replaced electromechanical meters over the past 10 years as the older meters have required replacement. Both are being replaced by digital communicating meters (right) which have upgraded functions. Photo courtesy of Consumers Energy.

Consumers Energy has begun the process of upgrading electric meter technology across the state for 1.8 million electric customers. They estimate this process will continue through 2017. Manchester, which makes up the far eastern edge of their service area in southern Michigan, will be upgraded along with Jackson, Lenawee, Hillsdale, Calhoun and Branch counties in 2016. The new electric meters will be capable of sending text-type messages to the company through the cellular telephone network and will eliminate the need for estimated meter reads, provide online access to energy use information and will assist with power outage restoration,

The new meters have already been installed in parts of Allegan, Barry, Grand Traverse, Ionia, Kalkaska, Kent, Leelanau, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Oceana, and Ottawa counties for nearly 500,000 Consumers Energy customers. “These upgraded meters are helping us to be more efficient and to control our costs better. Providing our residential and business customers with secure online access to their energy use information will help those who are interested to track their energy usage more closely and predict what their bills will be before they arrive,” said Garrick Rochow, Consumers Energy’s vice president.

In addition to residential meters, businesses will receive business meters and access to a new web portal that will provide online access to energy use data that could help them to better manage their energy usage. Consumers Energy will also install communication modules on the natural gas meters of 600,000 customers who also have Consumers Energy electric service. Next year they will also launch an enhanced outage management system, using outage notifications from the new meters to more effectively respond during storms and other power outages, and to more efficiently coordinate repair efforts. Customers will also be able to choose their own billing dates.

Notifications of meter upgrades will arrive in the form of large blue information postcards at homes about 30 days before the upgrades. Residents don’t need to be home for the replacement, which takes only a few minutes, but they can call to make appointments if they choose. Businesses will be contacted in advance through mailings, calls or outreach meetings, depending on their size and the complexity of their electric service.

Households and businesses do have the option to continue using older meter technology and enroll in the manual meter reading program at a cost of $9.72 per month and a one-time cost of $69.39 to maintain the systems and infrastructure to support continued use of older meters.

Click HERE for more information.

Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy, providing natural gas and electricity to 6.6 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.