The new enhanced meters are sol­id state elec­tric meters that col­lect and trans­mit meter­ing infor­ma­tion back to our office. The infor­ma­tion is col­lect­ed by the meter, saved in pack­ets and sent via radio fre­quen­cy back to our office a few times per day. The radio fre­quen­cy is sim­i­lar to oth­er tech­nolo­gies that you are famil­iar with such as baby mon­i­tors and garage door open­ers.

As a mem­ber-owned coop­er­a­tive, YEC aims to keep our promise of pro­vid­ing safe, reli­able and afford­able ener­gy, even as the world around us con­tin­ues to change. Enhanc­ing our meters pro­vides mem­bers access to new tools and more detailed infor­ma­tion to help save ener­gy and mon­ey.

Enhanced meters are dig­i­tal elec­tron­ic meters capa­ble of two-way com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Hav­ing two-way com­mu­ni­ca­tions enables YEC to offer a num­ber of key ben­e­fits, includ­ing more detailed bill infor­ma­tion and the abil­i­ty to respond to out­ages more quick­ly and effec­tive­ly- so we can ensure that we are doing our best to meet our mem­bers’ needs.

• Enhanced meters tell YEC how much ener­gy you use, when your pow­er goes out and when it comes back on, when volt­age is too high and when volt­age is too low.
• Enhanced meters reduce the time it takes to read meters from hours to min­utes. Auto­mat­ed capa­bil­i­ties pre­vent unnec­es­sary trips, low­er trav­el time, save gas, reduce emis­sions and pro­vide an imme­di­ate response.
• YEC will save on oper­a­tional costs for labor and trans­porta­tion. These sav­ings are passed on to you, our mem­bers.
• Enhanced meters report pow­er prob­lems and out­ages when they occur, pro­vid­ing YEC with the data need­ed to enhance mem­ber ser­vice.
• Enhanced meters employ sev­er­al tech­niques to enforce secu­ri­ty, includ­ing data encryp­tion. An encryp­tion key is required to unlock the data that is trans­mit­ted.

Your pri­va­cy is impor­tant to us. In addi­tion to our cyber­se­cu­ri­ty prac­tices we keep in place to pro­tect mem­ber data, our pri­va­cy pol­i­cy pre­vents cus­tomer data from being sold to third par­ties.

You have con­trol. Enhanced meters mea­sure the ener­gy use of the whole house, just like the meters we cur­rent­ly use. They can­not mea­sure the ener­gy use of indi­vid­ual appli­ances in your house, and YEC’s enhanced meters can­not be used to con­trol your appli­ances.

Your infor­ma­tion is secure. Enhanced meters employ sev­er­al tech­niques to enforce secu­ri­ty, includ­ing data encryp­tion. An encryp­tion key is required to unlock the data that is trans­mit­ted.

• Enhanced meters use radio waves.
  • YEC’s enhanced meters trans­mit data using radio waves, and the trans­mis­sion oper­ates very briefly at a very low wattage.

• Enhanced meters briefly sig­nal.
  • YEC’s enhanced meters use radio waves to com­mu­ni­cate with a brief pulse-less than five sec­onds per day.

• Enhanced meters have low input.
  • To trans­mit data, enhanced meters use an extreme­ly low wattage, much less than a cell phone, cord­less phone or baby mon­i­tor.

• Enhanced meters direct away.
  • When an enhanced meter trans­mits data, the out­put is direct­ed away from your house, and as the dis­tance increas­es, the sig­nal strength decreas­es.

Mem­bers will be able to review their dai­ly ener­gy use online through YEC’s mem­ber por­tal. Using this data, mem­bers can learn how to adjust their habits to save ener­gy and save mon­ey.

Mem­bers do not need to request a new meter. YEC will be work­ing with con­trac­tors to install enhanced meters in phas­es across our ser­vice ter­ri­to­ry. You will be noti­fied direct­ly when it is almost time for your instal­la­tion.

Once you are noti­fied, please make sure to pro­vide access to the elec­tric meter at your house by clear­ing any obstruc­tions, like bush­es, fur­ni­ture or gates that need to be unlocked. On the day of the instal­la­tion, the installer will knock on your door to let you know about the meter exchange, and your pow­er will be off for about 5 min­utes. Please allow the installer to have safe access by keep­ing pets away from YEC’s elec­tric meter.