DTE Energy today unveiled plans to install remotely read electricity and natural gas meters in homes throughout its service territory.
The new meters would provide more accurate meter reading and provide information about customer energy use and recognize power outages without customers having to report them, the utility said.
The system first will be tried in Grosse Ile Township with full deployment beginning in 2009, subject to successful test results.
The $350 million program will be implemented over the next six years and serve as a platform to eliminate manual meter reading, provide remote monitoring of the electric distribution system and enable customers to manage their bills by tracking their consumption and demand via the DTE Energy Web site.
Installation would spread on a community-by-community basis and every Edison electric meter in Southeast Michigan would be replaced with solid state meters having no rotating dials, and every MichCon gas meter would be modified with an AMI module. Customers would be notified when meter changes are scheduled in their communities.
Other benefits of the system include remote monitoring of the distribution network which will enable faster and more reliable power outage detection and restoration, near elimination of estimated bills, detection of low voltage problems, enhanced energy theft/meter tampering detection and the ability to reconnect and disconnect service remotely.
DTE Energy contracts for meter reading services, which will be phased out over the six-year installation period.
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