NYSEG, Rochester Gas & Electric install more than 700,000 smart meters

New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) installed more than 700,000 smart meters for electric and natural gas customers in their territories.

The upgrades are currently focused on seven NYSEG and RG&E divisions including Ithaca, Rochester, Brewster, Sodus, Binghamton, Canandaigua, Lancaster, and Hornell.

Smart meters are electric or natural gas meter modules with two-way wireless communications between the meter and the utility’s systems. They securely transmit usage and meter status data automatically, enabling monthly bills to be based on actual use versus manual meter reading or estimates. They give customers a better understanding of their energy bills and help the utilities pinpoint and respond to outages more quickly.

“We’re dedicated to meeting the energy needs of our customers, and building a smarter energy infrastructure is part of that commitment,” Pedro Azagra, CEO of Avangrid, the parent company of NYSEG and RG&E, said. “Not only do smart meters mean a bill based on actual use rather than estimated reads every month, with this recent rash of thunderstorms, we’re seeing improvements to outage response in the areas where they’ve been installed.”

Smart meter upgrades will continue throughout the companies’ service areas over the next two years. NYSEG and RG&E have committed to installing more than 1.3 million electric smart meters and adding 600,000 natural gas modules for customers in 17 NYSEG and RG&E divisions statewide. Customers will be informed in advance about when installations take place.

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