MOSES LAKE — The first of an estimated 49,000 new Grant County PUD electrical meters was installed Monday in Moses Lake. The two-year project will replace all existing meters in the PUD service area at an estimated cost of $14.9 million, said PUD public information officer Ryan Holterhoff.

The new meters are expected to save the PUD about $35.6 million over 10 years, Holterhoff said.

The main differences between new and old are that the new meters are more accurate and can be read remotely, said PUD public information officer Chuck Allen. Utility district officials also expect the meters will allow the PUD to respond to outages more quickly, Allen said.

Since the meters can be read remotely, eventually that will eliminate the need for meter readers, one place the PUD will be realizing some savings. (At an earlier PUD commission meeting, general manager Kevin Nordt said meter readers would be transferred to other positions or not replaced when they retired or got new jobs.)

Holterhoff said there were times last winter when weather conditions made it impossible to get to some meters, and PUD employees were required to estimate electrical use. That made for some surprises – sometimes unpleasant surprises – for customers when meters were read in the spring, Holterhoff said. The advanced meters will eliminate that.

The meters collect data on electrical usage at 15-minute intervals, Allen said, and transmit the data once per day. It also sends a signal if there’s an outage.

“Right now, we rely on our customers” when there’s an outage, Allen said. The advanced meters will allow PUD employees to get a more precise reading on the location of any outage. “More rapid and precise response,” Allen said.

When advanced meters were developed, some of their more enthusiastic advocates speculated they could be used to monitor – and even regulate – electrical use, down to the level of individual devices. Whatever they can or can’t do, the advanced PUD meters won’t be doing any of that.

The traditional purpose of an electrical meter is to record electrical use, Holterhoff said, and that’s how the PUD meters will be used.

Customers do have the option of continuing with manual reading, but those customers will be charged a one-time fee as well as a monthly fee. People who want more information can contact the PUD at its website, www.grantpud.org, or 509-766-2505.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].