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A summary of benefits include:
- Automatic meter readings
- More timely and accurate billing
- Better reliability and quality of service from utilities
- Automatic outage notification
Project Information
Starting summer of 2022, Utility Partners of America (UPA), the approved contractor with the City of Edmond, will begin installing meters. This will be done in segments throughout the next 18 months to 2 years.
A notification letter will be sent to you 2-4 weeks prior to your area's installation dates, so you are aware that UPA will be servicing your area.
On the date of your installation, here is what to expect:
- The UPA representative will arrive with a visible ID badge and City of Edmond marked vehicle.
- The UPA representative will attempt to knock on your door before the installation.
- You do not have to be home for the installation to occur if your meters are accessible.
- If you answer, a UPA representative will hand you a door hanger with information about the installation.
- If you are not home and the installation was able to occur, a door hanger will be left for you with installation information.
Electric & Water Smart Meters
Safety is our highest priority. The Advanced Meters we will install meet the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requirements and are certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). If the meters encounter equipment failure, such as a short circuit, certification will ensure they respond in a safe manner. As part of this certification, our meters are independently tested and inspected during the manufacturing process.
The meters use a low-powered radio to send your usage readings to the City of Edmond electric and water offices through a secure mesh network. This data is then processed and validated so you can see your previous days' hourly usage, as well as long-term historical data. The meters will also notify us if there is an issue so we can better serve you.
In conjunction with a coming new web portal, this enhanced technology will allow you to access the previous days' hourly usage for your water and electric service. Additionally, historical hourly usage will be available to view and graph. Various tools will help you track, compare, and monitor your usage so you can better control your utilities. In time, we will be offering additional programs and services under the Smart Choice program.
Electric Smart Meter | Water Smart Meter |
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Advanced Meters are Safe
In general, the factors that influence the degree of radio frequency exposure from any source are the frequency, duration of signals, signal strength and your distance from the source. For reasons given in the following table, advanced meters do not produce radio frequency exposures strong enough to impact your health.Exposure Factor | Advanced Meter Emissions |
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Signal duration and frequency | Radio frequency signals from advanced meters are brief and infrequent. Our meters will transmit for an average of 83 seconds per day. The average transmission lasts just 48 milliseconds. |
Signal strength | Radio frequency emissions from an advanced meter are very weak and have no known health effects. Even as close as three inches from an advanced meter, radio frequency levels are non-measurable (0.0 mW/cm2), and far below FCC exposure limits. (1 mW/cm2 at the source). |
Distance from the source (the meter's radio) | Research shows that radio frequency emissions decrease sharply with distance, dropping to low levels at just several inches from the meter. In fact, using a qualifying RF detector, it was measured just 0.2 mW/cm2 of RF irradiance when placing the detector up against an advanced meter's radio during a transmission. At just 3" from the radio, and along other areas of the meter, the reading drops to 0.0 mW/cm2. |
It's important to use standard units of measure when discussing advanced meter emissions. The FCC recognizes milliwatts per square centimeter (mW/cm2) as a reputable measure of irradiance (intensity) of radio energy. This is the total radiant power of (all) wavelengths passing from all incident directions onto an infinitesimally small area (square centimeters).
Related:
- What is Smart Choice?
- What is a smart meter?
- How will smart meters benefit customers?
- How will smart meters benefit the City of Edmond?
- When will I get my smart meter?
- Will my bill look different?
- What are we doing to protect customer information?
- Does the City of Edmond know what personal device is using water or power?
- Can I opt out of having a Smart Choice meter installed at my location?
- Can the City of Edmond limit the amount of electricity I use?
- Will I be automatically placed on a time-of-use rate?
- Can the City of Edmond remotely disconnect my utility services?
- Didn’t see an answer you were looking for?