Xcel Energy installed its first smart electric meter in Amarillo Monday morning as a part of a multi-year project to bring customers cleaner, safer, and more reliable energy through advanced grid technology and could be coming to Brownfield sooner than people may think.
The first installation occurred in a home on the 7700 block of Pinnacle Drive. The energy company stated that approximately 140 of these new meters are to be installed daily with an estimated goal of more than 275,000 of the new devices in Xcel Energy’s Texas service area over the next two years.
Adrian J. Rodriguez, president of Xcel Energy – Texas said in a news release: “We’re excited to take this next step in building a smarter, more resilient, and efficient energy grid and making it easier than ever for customers to understand and manage their energy use … Smart meters are the starting point for this advanced grid, boosting reliability and providing new tools and technology to help customers lower costs.”
According to Xcel Energy Smart meters have been installed on close to 80% of homes and businesses in the U.S. as of the end of 2022 and with most parts around Brownfield and Lubbock being close to 70% Brownfield could look at the entire town being finished by late fall. Among the benefits of this technology is the ability for Xcel Energy to know when a customer’s power service has been disrupted without the customer calling in an outage. This will help us respond to outages more quickly.
The new meters also provide customers the ability to monitor their power use in near real-time through the My Account feature at xcelenergy.com and through the company app. The Energy company said this additional insight will help customers find ways to use electricity more efficiently and save money on their bills.
Xcel Energy stated that they have made significant investments in the power grid serving Texas customers over the past decade, primarily by boosting the capacity and reliability of the system through new and improved lines and substations.
Xcel said their next step in this modernization includes new tools and technology such as smart meters that empower customers to manage their energy use better while improving reliability and helping Xcel Energy restore power more quickly after an outage. In addition, smart meters will give customers near real-time energy use data that they will be able to access through the company’s My Account app, or via xcelenergy.com. Customers will also have access to programs and services that will help them better understand their energy use and how to improve efficiency and find more savings.
“These new smart meters will collect information on customer usage at more frequent time intervals than our existing meters, essentially today customers are able to see how much energy they use in total over the course of a month and these new meters allow us to see energy usage in intervals throughout the day as quickly as every 15 minutes,” said Brooke Trammell, regional VP Regulatory and Pricing for Xcel Energy.
Xcel Energy stated that homeowners will be notified multiple times via 90, 60, and 30-day notices in advance before the installation of the new meters as well as customer communications. In total, the process can take up to about five minutes for the new smart meter installation which will be conducted by Xcel energy personnel.
According to the company, homeowners do have the option to opt out of the installation for the new smart meter and for an additional meter fee and monthly reading, the fee can receive an updated version of the meter that they are currently utilizing.
