ABC-7 Listens: El Paso Electric’s Smart Meter installation
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso electric crews are flocking across the city, exchanging existing meters with a "smart meter."
El Paso Electric said on its website, a smart meter tracks energy use in real time and sends the data directly to EPE through a secure communication network.
EPE says customers will have access to energy consumption data and therefore, better control of energy costs; faster outage notification and restoration; and enhanced service and programs for customers.
Customers can opt-out, and one ABC-7 viewer wrote the newsroom to sound off about why he is doing just that.
Chris wrote, "...no one should have control over you or your property. Now, I could understand if they had come out and said... 'We will allow the public to vote on it, or have (a) choice to opt in or out without any charge or threat of discontinuation, or increase of monthly charges,' then that would have been different."
According to the EPE Website, customers will be charged a monthly fee to cover the cost of the smart meter installation.
For residential customers, that fee will be $2.03. There are opt-out fees: the one-time fee to opt out ranges from roughly $106 to about $171, with a monthly recurring fee of $13.44.
When ABC-7 asked El Paso Electric about both fees, the spokesman said in an email, "The opt-out fee is to cover the two systems we will have to maintain for customers that decide to opt out – the new smart meter network and the legacy system. If a customer opts out and then decides to receive the new smart meter, they can contact EPE by email, chat or phone."
He also said the monthly smart meter fee will be in place for 12 years and will decrease after year 5.
That is for Texas customers.
In New Mexico, the monthly fee will be in place for 10 years and will be adjusted annually, and he explained, the differences are due to varying state regulations.
Go to the El Paso Electric website to learn more about the smart meters.
And if you haven't gotten yours yet, the installation process will continue through 2025.
