Over the next few months, PSE&G will be replacing existing electric meters with new smart meters at area homes and businesses. These meters will be installed within approximately 90 days.
Smart meters are devices that send near real-time electric-use information from our customers’ homes and businesses to PSE&G via a secure communications network.
They are part of PSE&G’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program, which connects smart meters to PSE&G system-monitoring and customer applications. This will create an integrated, two-way communications system between customers and PSE&G.
PSE&G has hired Contract Callers, Inc. (CCI) to perform most smart meter installations. Either a PSE&G employee, or a CCI employee, will install the new smart meter. Both PSE&G and CCI employees will use marked vehicles and carry photo identification. Most installations take only a few minutes, and there will be a brief power interruption while the technician changes the meter.
The new smart meter will, among other things:
- Provide you with more information about your electric use
- Allow automatic, near real-time meter reading that will eliminate almost all estimated electric bills
- Enable near real-time power outage detection and make storm restoration work more efficient
- Reduced PSE&G carbon dioxide emissions in the short-term, and the enabling of more renewable energy projects and more robust energy efficiency efforts in the long-term.
Smart meters are safe. They use low power radio frequency (RF) that is generally far less than RF used by devices already in the home such as baby monitors, cell phones, microwaves, TVs and wireless routers. There are more than 100 million smart meters already installed at nearly 90% of homes across the country.
PSE&G has a comprehensive cybersecurity plan to protect electric usage data collected by smart meters and will only use the data to provide better service to customers. PSE&G will not sell this data to third parties.
To learn about PSE&G’s smart meter program, including information on how residential customers can opt out, visit www.pseg.com/smartmeters. Business customers cannot opt out of a smart meter installation.