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1. What is Smart Choice?

Smart Choice will be a group of programs and services, implemented over time, that use data provided by our upgraded smart meters. Smart Choice will help you better track and manage your utility usage as well as allow The City of Edmond to provide enhanced services and programs to you.

2. What is a smart meter?

Smart meters record your water and energy usage the same as our previous meters do. However, unlike our previous meters that require manual monthly readings, your smart meter will now transmit your utility usage to the City daily. This will make your usage data more accessible to both you and the utility.

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.

3. How will smart meters benefit customers?

In conjunction with a new web portal coming in 2023, 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.

4. How will smart meters benefit the City of Edmond?

The upgrade to smart meters will help the City of Edmond’s electric and water systems make better use of the current infrastructure serving you and will better predict new infrastructure needs, reducing upfront costs while also meeting long-term service needs. Additionally, through the various alerts and alarms generated by the meters, we can serve you better by reacting to service issues more quickly.

5. When will I get my smart meter?

The installation of smart meters began in June 2022 and will be done in segments over 18 months to 2 years. Approximately 2 to 4 weeks before your scheduled installation date, you will receive a notification letter with detailed information about the installation process.

6. Will my bill look different?

Your utility bill will still look the same. Through the web portal, launching in late 2023, you will be able to access your previous day’s usage readings and other detailed information about your bill.

7. What are we doing to protect customer information?

The City of Edmond has always worked diligently to ensure the safety of customer data. First, the meters do not collect, store, or transmit personally identifiable information. Second, the mesh network used to transmit the data is a secure and encrypted network. Next, once received by the City, the data is processed and stored on secure servers. Finally, the City does not release any water or electric data without the customer’s written permission.

8. Does the City of Edmond know what personal device is using water or power?

While smart meters will inform the customer and the City of Edmond utilities of hourly consumption data, they cannot and do not identify which specific device in your property that using water or energy. The detailed consumption history is to help you monitor the devices you may be using and their impact on your bill. It also provides a way for the City of Edmond to better manage our electric and water systems, as well as engineer and plan for future system improvements.

9. Can I opt out of having a Smart Choice meter installed at my location?

While we believe this will greatly benefit our customers, we understand some may want the option to opt out of getting the new smart meters. If that is a choice you want to make, you can let us know with an email to smartchoice@edmondok.gov. Please provide your name and address in your email. 

The opt-out option is for single-family residential customers only. If the customer is receiving both water and electric service, they will be required to opt-out of both of those services. A video explaining the opt-out option is available here: https://youtu.be/EJ-tcHl90zI. 

Please note that if you choose to opt out after the meters are already installed at your location, an $85 enrollment fee will be charged. However, if you opt out before installation, there will be no $85 enrollment fee. A $15 monthly fee will apply to all opt-out customers, but will not start being applied to your bill until installations have occurred in your area. This fee covers the ongoing cost of personnel and equipment to manually read non-AMI meters and process that read for billing.

Finally, we do want to note that some opt-out customers have older electromechanical electric meters. These electric meters are reaching the end of their useful life. As part of our Smart Choice rollout, we will be replacing these with a non-communicating, electronic meter. These meters do not have a radio to transmit data back to our utility office like the Smart Choice meters.

10. Can the City of Edmond limit the amount of electricity I use?

Smart Choice meters can't limit the amount of electricity or water you use. They do not have this capability. As always, how much water and energy you use is up to you. The meters merely offer a quick, efficient way to record usage and, when the customer portal is ready, make hourly usage information available to the customer.

11. Will I be automatically placed on a time-of-use rate?

No. The current residential rates will remain the rate used for utilities. In the future, should Edmond Electric develop and make available a time-of-use rate program option, it would be completely voluntary. No customers will be required to switch to a time-of-use rate program. In fact, the new Smart Choice meters will help assist customers in evaluating their usage to determine if a time-of-use rate is a good fit for their needs.

12. Can the City of Edmond remotely disconnect my utility services?

Yes. Remote disconnects allow Edmond utilities to more conveniently turn on and off services as people move into and out of their homes and businesses. With two universities and a nearly full apartment inventory, there are multiple times a year when requests for service connects and disconnects greatly increase. 

Before Smart Choice implementation, each connection/disconnection of service required a vehicle to be sent to the site to manually turn the service on or off. By using the remote connect/disconnect feature, Edmond’s utilities can limit trucks on the road to provide this service, reducing traffic and the associated pollution and congestion. 

13. Didn’t see an answer you were looking for?

Please call our Utility Customer Service Department at (405) 359-4541 or email smartchoice@edmondok.gov