O&R to install smart meters throughout Orange, Sullivan counties

MIDDLETOWN — O&R gave Orange and Sullivan County state, county and municipal officials a look earlier this week at the company’s plans to begin installing smart electric meters and gas modules on every Orange and Sullivan O&R electric service and gas service beginning in 2018. Those new safe, secure and reliable meters and modules are designed to provide O&R customers greater convenience, choice and control over their energy use.
The smart meter wireless, two-way technology is proven and well accepted, with about 50 million smart meters already working across the nation, according to a release from the company.
O&R told its briefing audience at the Palacio Catering and Conference Center in Goshen that the utility plans to install 230,000 electric smart meters in its New York service area. Pending New York State Public Service Commission approval, the company is planning to install the communications infrastructure in Orange County beginning in Jan. 2018 and the meters in March of 2018 with 112,650 meters over a three-year period.
The smart meters are the game changer in electric service reliability because they can report the exact location of individual electric service outages to O&R. Currently, O&R depends on customer calls to pinpoint the locations of outages.
The smart meters eliminate the need for a monthly meter read at customers’ premises. The new technology will reduce the number of estimated bills, and reduce the number of meter-reader vehicles, and their accompanying emissions, on the road.
The benefits go beyond power monitoring to provide individuals greater control over their energy consumption, the company said. Customers will be able to see where and why their consumption increases/decreases and can take action to reduce their bills.