Business Smart Meter FAQs

The new meters are the next generation of metering equipment and, like your current meter, connect your facility to the OPPD electric system and tell us how much energy you use. As a customer, smart meters are going to improve your everyday energy experience. That means more control over your energy use with even better reliability. Some new tools included will allow you to track your usage and efficiency, set alerts and instantly communicate with us if service problems occur.

The smart meter, communication network, and data management tools that enable two-way communication between OPPD and its customers. It allows for automatic collection of energy usage, remote meter reading, outage detection and improved energy management.

Current meter models are nearing the end of their service life and need to be replaced to ensure continued performance and reliability.

As part of OPPD’s commitment to serving customers, we routinely update our equipment to ensure we’re meeting the needs of our customers and systems.

Smart meters are equipped with wireless capabilities which provide a number of new benefits to business customers and provide OPPD with new tools that will help us improve the safety and reliability of our service. Find out more about smart meter benefits.

As part of OPPD’s ongoing system upgrades to deliver more flexible, resilient and efficient service, your meter will be upgraded at no cost to you. 

This is a $93 million investment in meters that OPPD needs to make every few decades to ensure we can serve – and bill – our customers accurately and reliably.

You will be able to see your energy usage information in MyOPPD. Energy insights are updated every 24 hours in 15-minute intervals, helping customers take control of their usage

Connect your account to the new MyOPPD app (also available through your device’s app store) coming in September 2025. Once logged in, the app will walk you through the features and tools available to smart meter customers.

No. You may find that adding a Smart Home hub or other smart devices can help you build upon the new meter features, but there is no change to your everyday service or the devices our power supports.

No! The meter itself has no significant energy consumption and will not increase your energy bills. Meters are extensively tested for accuracy.

We will be deploying about 10,000 meters across our service territory in Q4 2025 to ensure we are testing them thoroughly in a variety of situations. We will be installing the remaining new meters in our service territory over the next few years, so will be operating both systems for a time. Our expectation is that everyone will have a new meter by the end of 2028.

You will receive email notifications beginning at 90 days out. We’ll send out reminders in the mail and/or to your inbox at the 60- and 30-day mark. 

OPPD workers will be replacing your meter. The service technician will access your property where your meter is located.

We will knock on your door before making the exchange, but you are not required to answer the door or be present for us to do the work.

Your power may be out briefly during the installation. If you have life-sustaining equipment at your facility (respirator, dialysis machine, IV pump, etc.), please contact OPPD once you receive your first notice about the install. Our workers need to be aware of any electrical medical information. 

For small business customers, we will not have specific appointments for the replacements. We will notify you generally when we are planning to be in your area. You do not need to be present for the install. 

If your meter is in a locked area, leave your gate unlocked. Remove anything that might be blocking access to your meter. Please bring pets inside while we do the work.

We will not have a set appointment, however, our workers will notify you when they arrive and come back later if it’s inconvenient for your business.

No. The meters will not increase your energy bills. They collect the same usage information as the old meters, and the minimal amount of energy they require to operate is on OPPD’s side of the meter, not the business owner’s side. 

We’ll leave a doorhanger once your upgrade is complete, indicating whether your meter exchange was completed or not. If for some reason the meter exchange was not complete, please reach out to OPPD right away. You can contact Customer Service at 1-877-536-4131 option 6 or email us at customerservice@oppd.com at any time.

It will be recycled for scrap metal.

We are evaluating requests on a case-by-case basis. OPPD will need to determine whether enough AMI technology is installed in your area to allow your meter to function with the intended benefits. This request also will be determined by our available resources and capacity to install additional meters outside of the originally planned schedule. 

Yes. Several agencies, including agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Federal Communications Commission, have concluded that smart meters do not cause nor contribute to adverse health effects. The meter models chosen by OPPD for our customers meet or exceed safety-standard testing conducted by multiple third-parties.

They use radio frequency technology to transmit information to OPPD about how much energy a business is using. The amount of radio frequency emitted is less than the amount emitted by a cell phone.

Yes. Smart meters are considered safe for people with pacemakers and other implantable medical devices. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has strict safety standards for RF exposure, and smart meters operate well below those limits. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also monitors interactions between RF devices and medical implants and has not identified smart meters as a risk.

Smart meters will not interfere with these devices and will continue to support them just like your old meter.

If you have life-sustaining medical equipment on site, please enroll in OPPD's Life-Sustaining Equipment (LSE) Program as soon as possible. We will work with you to make sure the appointment won’t disrupt any medical equipment.

Find out more about smart meter health and safety.

Smart meters emit very low levels of (RF) radio frequency energy, much lower than many common household devices and meet strict safety limits set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The new meter is designed with safety in mind including:

• Heat-resistant materials – made with durable, flame-resistant components;
• Rigorous testing – every meter is UL-certified and tested against national electrical safety standards;
• Continuous monitoring – the meter can detect unusual voltage or temperature levels, helping prevent potential issues before they occur, and;
• Remote-shutoff capability – allows OPPD to safely disconnect power remotely in emergency situations.  

New smart meters can detect and report overheating meter sockets to OPPD before damage can occur. They’ll also help report voltage fluctuations and failing equipment—letting us troubleshoot and repair service problems before they cause an outage. And in the unlikely event of a house fire, the meter can remotely disconnect power to help first responders safely focus on their job. For more information, view the fact sheet. 

AMI meters do not use your personal internet through broadband or Wi-Fi. Meter readings are sent to OPPD over a safe, secure and private network.

No. AMI meters do not have access to your internet. OPPD meters only collect data related to your energy consumption.

Smart meters collect data about your energy usage to better plan and enhance service availability. This includes power, energy, and outage information.

The meters collect your businesses' electricity usage only. This also includes the time the reading was taken and some service quality readings. We use it to calculate your monthly bill and ensure our system is serving you reliably. It’s not useful or valuable to anyone other than OPPD. We do not collect any personal or sensitive information. The meters do not have access to any billing, payment, or account information. 

Smart meters transmit encrypted data through OPPD’s own secure communication network. While this technology is wireless, it does not use internet channels to send information.

The new meters do not control how you choose to use the electricity in your business. Your meter will be able to provide you with daily insights about your energy usage. The new meters can also help you analyze and manage your energy usage.

No. OPPD meters do not have the capability to record conversations that happen in your business.

Your current AMR meter transmits data for about 49 seconds per day. In contrast, the new AMI meter communicates in very short, periodic bursts totaling only about 754 milliseconds – or 0.754 seconds - each day, which means it spends roughly 65 times less time transmitting overall.

There are no Chinese components within our L&G AMI systems, which includes meters, gateways and routers.

No. It is not customary for utilities to provide opt-out options for business customers because of the complexity around commercial rates, meter access and meter purchasing for such large customers.

Restoration after a storm involves a lot of hands-on work to replace or reset damaged poles, equipment and wires. However, over time, the new meters combined with the new technology at our Energy Control Center should give us better visibility into the scope of storm damage, helping us make decisions that will speed up restoration.   

The new technology will allow our on-the-ground teams to move faster. Once they restore a neighborhood, they can ping the meters to make sure all the houses are restored, preventing a callback later to the one business that had an additional issue. Our new technology also gives them better information about where to find damaged transformers and other equipment, helping them move through calls more quickly.  

Please note that the full value of this technology won’t be realized until all the meters are installed in 2028.

Not necessarily. We’ll see the benefits of our new technology and meters over time – we'll be working with both new and old meters through 2028, and our restoration efforts will improve as we add more and more smart meters.

Yes. We’re asking customers to continue to call in. Our customers won’t see the full value of the new technology until all the meters are installed in 2028 and, at times, depending on the magnitude of the event, we may want that customer touchpoint. Generally, customers with smart meters will receive a notification from us in the future when their business is without power. That's the signal that you don’t need to call in.