Smart Meters

By: Havonnah Johnson/Havonnah Johnson | Alabama's13.com
Published: May 16, 2008

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Birmingham, Ala--Monitoring and controlling your power bill will soon be a click away.
Alabama Power is installing smart meters over the next three years. The new digital meter measures electricity flow into the home in real time. Alabama Power said it will phase out meter readers because the digital meters will have a network that allows the power company to read and service your meter without ever coming to the home. The remote system on the side of your home communicates to Alabama Power so you will not have to. Alabama Power spokesperson, Michael Sznajderman said "In the case of a power outage the network system sends a signal to the operation center. We will eventually know you have a power outage without you calling." Fifty thousand Birmingham customers have the meter as apart of a pilot program. By the year 2011 all Alabama Power customer will have a smart meter.