STRAIGHT TALK FROM KPUD, part 8 in a series

News from our Sponsors:

Part 8 of a series by Jim Smith and Rodger Nichols

Responding to more of your concerns,

As a follow-up to last week’s article, there are a few other questions we have been hearing that we would like to address.

We have had many people say they are hearing that their bills will go up as a result of the AMI meter installations. This is not correct.

There will be no change to our rates or the amount you will be billed when these meters are installed. What will change is that once the new meters are installed, you will be able to see more details about your usage on Smart-Hub than the monthly usage that is currently available. There may be impacts to your bill when we change rate design in a year or two, but that will be a separate public process we will carry out at that time.

We are one of the last utilities in the state to implement AMI, primarily because until recently, we did not see benefits accruing to the PUD and our customers. With the recent changes in electricity markets and load growth, we believe that this is a sound business decision.

There is also confusion about the opt-out option. First, the opt-out only covers the radio communications component. We will install new meters at all locations to record the data necessary to run our business efficiently. Even if you can opt-out, we will be replacing the meter at your service location, but there will not be a radio communications card in the meter.

Second, not all customers will qualify to opt out. The details on opt-out eligibility are available on our website. Third, if you opt out, there will be a monthly charge for us to read your meter and input that data to our billing system. The fee will be $40 a month. Once the system is in place, we will evaluate the actual cost to read the meters and this fee may be adjusted. Reading the meter will require us to connect a computer to the meter to read the data. Reading the meter through the meter faceplate is not practical.

Lastly, we are not installing the AMI system because we are being told to by federal or state government mandates. There is no question that federal and state mandates are affecting the business environment we are working in, and we know this environment could change. We are choosing to install the AMI system as we believe it is in the long-term best interests of our customers for all the benefits we have been talking about in the public and press.