Light Department comments on plans
CHENEY— The city has begun the first stage of a multi-year project to replace all the electricity meters with a newer “smart” model.
The new meters are the Centron II, which are designed to transmit and receive information to a remote receiver, and they can also relay information among individual units.
The units, according to the technical specifications provided by the manufacturer, Itron, are capable of measuring temperature, voltage, and other technical data and routing it a central data-monitoring facility. “The point here is that we get real-time data, such as trends on usage and so forth,” Steve Marx, Light Department director, said.
“Advanced Metering Infrastructure is the general name for the networking technology which the meters use,” Marx said.
Marx said that there are about 6,000 meters in the city and that the replacement timeline is 4 to 4 and-a-half years. “We have a replacement target of 1,400 units per year,” Marx said.
The city uses a billing method for electricity that has established “routes” or sectors and the Light Department is replacing meters according to those routes, or neighborhoods.
Marx said that only authorized Light Department technicians should be allowed to access equipment and not to be leery of asking for proper identification.
Lucas is a former Cheney Free Press managing editor. He is a nationally published author who contributes regularly to several publications across the country.
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