Entergy Mississippi is looking to upgrade their meters for efficiency.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission recently approved the launch of this multi-year investment which Entergy is saying will be the foundation for grid modernization and will offer a larger range of benefits to their customers.
“They look no different than the meters on your house,” said Haley Fisackerly President and CEO of Entergy Mississippi. “They are smart meters just like smart phones and what they will do, they will create a lot of efficiency for us. It will allow us to remotely read meters, disconnect, re-connect, but what it really does is what it does for the customers. Customers right now don’t know what their energy use is until every 30 days and right now they don’t feel like they have control. This is going to give them a lot more control.”
Fisackerly said that once the meters are in place customers will be able to see in real time what their energy use is.
“If you want notifications when you hit a certain bill amount, then you will get that,” said Fisackerly. “Eventually with smart appliances in your home, they will talk to each other and you will even know where your biggest energy users are. The kids on the Xbox too much for example.”
Fisackerly added that customers would be able to opt out of the new meter, however, they would have to pay for the cost difference of their meter being read manually as the new meters would no longer require manual reading.
The upgrade will take about three years and Fisackerly said that people will start to see the new meters in parts of Mississippi at the end of 2019 and that by the end of 2021, homes and businesses in the Entergy Mississippi service area will all be able to be part of the new energy effort.
