Are smart meters impacting New Yorkers' energy bills?
There has been lot of discourse and pushback from New Yorkers, particularly on social media, when it comes to smart meters.
Some believe their rising bills are due to this new tech and are even calling for accountability — but when it comes to smart meters, correlation does not always mean causation.
What You Need To Know
- Some customers say newly implemented AMI, advanced metering infrastructure, or smart meters, are to blame for rate hikes, but are they?
- Smart meters only track energy usage. Whereas old meters were read manually once a month, smart meters give customers and utility companies readings in real-time
- When looking at your bill, supply costs typically make up around 44% and this is out of utility companies’ control. Supply cost is regulated through the New York Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s electricity market
Both New York State Electric & Gas and National Grid say smart meters do not impact customers’ bills at all. They say the only difference is that whereas the old meters were read manually once a month, smart meters give customers and utility companies readings in real-time.
They say the real reason bills are going up has more to do with the extreme cold temperatures seen this winter. As weather got colder, the price of natural gas increased.
“Over half of the electricity in New York state is generated using natural gas as a fuel source. Electricity prices follow that same track. And so we saw a very significant increase in the supply cost that customers paid,” said Ken Kujawa, regional director for National Grid.
While both delivery and supply costs have gone up over the past year, supply costs make up 44% of a customer’s bill and are out of utility companies’ control. Supply costs are regulated by the New York Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s electricity market.
Also to note is the difference between day and night rates and residential or straight rates, as it was significantly higher supply costs per kilowatt hour to be on a day-night rate over the winter.
“The factors leading to it is more demand for electricity. You think about AI, you think about data centers, you think about electrification throughout the state. Factors like those have contributed significantly to rising bills,” said Michael Baggerman, communications manager for NYSEG. “It’s important for customers to know that the supply element, which, again, is outside of our control, has been unregulated.”
With all this in mind, officials hope that by keeping track of regular, updated readings with the smart meters, it will help customers be more mindful about how much electricity they are using and when.
For those who are still against the smart meter, some companies will allow them to opt out and keep their old meter for an additional monthly fee.