Archives

Hydro One installs Smart Meters in East Gwillimbury and Georgina

July 18, 2006 — Hydro One began installing approximately 15,000 new electricity smart meters today for selected residential customers in parts of Georgina and East Gwillimbury. These customers are among the first residents in the province to receive smart meters.

"Smart meters will provide consumers with an important tool to manage their electricity bills by lowering their consumption during peak periods," said Ontario Energy Minister, Dwight Duncan. By smoothing out the peaks in electricity demand, smart meters will help Ontario reduce need for additional power generation facilities which will in turn make the system less expensive to operate and benefit the environment.

The Ontario Government has a target of having smart meters installed in all Ontario homes and small businesses by 2010. Hydro One's share of the government target is about 1.2 million meters.

"Hydro One is pleased to support the Province's efforts to establish a conservation culture in Ontario," said Tom Parkinson, President and CEO, Hydro One. "We commend our customers in Georgina and East Gwillimbury for taking a leadership role in embracing the smart use of electricity and the conservation culture."

"Smart meters will provide many consumer benefits such as the ability to track electricity use, the elimination of estimated bills, faster responses to outages, and the opportunity for more innovative conservation demand management programs," said Rick Stevens, Hydro One Smart Meter Project Director. "When all the systems are in place smart meters will automatically send readings via wireless and other technologies, and communicate when a customer's power is out.

"This is a win-win initiative," said East Gwillimbury Mayor James Young. "It's good for the environment, customers and Ontario's electricity system. We're delighted East Gwillimbury was chosen to be one of the first communities to participate."

"We're particularly happy that Georgina residents will be among the first in the province to receive smart meters. We're being constantly reminded of how precarious our power supply is during periods of high use," said Georgina Mayor Robert Grossi. "Once all of the related systems are in place, these meters will provide an important tool for our residents to help ease the strain on the system and better manage their electricity bills."

Standard meters found in most homes in Ontario measure how much electricity is used during a monthly or bi-monthly billing period. When all related systems are fully functional a smart meter will record how much electricity is used hourly, and allow for different electricity prices for different times of the day. When teamed with time-of-use rates, smart meters will play a pivotal role in helping Ontarian use electricity wisely.

"The new meters look similar to standard meters except the display is digital and there are no dials," Stevens said. He noted that the smart meters will continue to work as regular meters for now until the communications network and related systems have been fully tested and time-of use rates are in effect.

Approximately 8,000 meters will be installed in the Town of Georgina, primarily in the Keswick and Sutton areas. Approximately 7,000 meters will be installed in East Gwillimbury, primarily in Holland Landing, Queensville, Sharon, and Mount Albert areas.

Those receiving a smart meter over the next three months will receive a letter along with a smart meter brochure. Installations will occur between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Installation takes only a few minutes to complete, but requires power to be shut off for a few seconds, so customers will need to reset their clocks and other electronic devices.

In cases where the meter is located indoors or is inaccessible for other reasons, no installation will occur when the installer arrives. Hydro One will be contacting these customers in the future. All 15,000 installations are expected to be completed by the end of September.

Hydro One owns and operates Ontario's 28,400 kilometre high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 122,000 kilometre low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.2 million end-use customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Ontario Government.

-30-

For more information and to make arrangements for photography, contact Hydro One Media Relations 24 hours a day at 1-877-506-7584 (toll-free in Ontario only) or 416-345-6868. Our Web site is www.HydroOne.com.