How Much Will You Pay To Opt Out?
For customers who don’t want a smart meter, the bill is coming due. That’s because AES Ohio recently rolled out its charges to customers who opt out of their smart meter program. Ohio does allow customers to continue to use their older analog meters to track their usage. However, AES Ohio will charge its customers for using these obsolete meters. So if you’re one, how much of a bill you should expect? Let’s see how much you will pay if you choose to avoid a smart meter and opt-out.
What Is A Smart Meter?
If you’re not familiar with smart meters, lets go over a few basics. In essence, smart meters remove the need for a meter reader to come to your home by transmitting your usage back to AES Ohio. A smart meter sends usage readings to AES Ohio about every 15 minutes. The readings help AES Ohio identify which customers lose power in an area. This can assist the utility to fix and restore power faster by targeting the areas affected. This is especially relevant with the recent windstorms that have been hitting Ohio with a number of outages. However, some customers don’t want them for a variety of reasons, and that’s perfectly okay. But that does bring us to the issue on the table.
What Are The Smart Meter Opt Out Charges?
According to AES Ohio, customers will face two charges if they opt out from the smart meter program. The first is about $100 as a one-time opt out charge. Additionally, there is a recurring monthly charge of around $40. That’s $480 a year in monthly charges. These charges generally go towards maintaining the old way of billing and reading meters. In short: reading an analog meter is a specialty service that you must pay for.
Why Is AES Ohio Swapping To Smart Meters?
Well, it has a lot to do with the smart grid. As we stated before, this primarily helps with power outages. If AES Ohio can pin down a problem faster by identifying which homes are affected, problems can be solved faster. Recent enhancements to the Ohio grid allow fewer service interruptions. Customers can also find out more information on their bills about their electricity usage. This helps to prevent higher bills for you.
Be Aware Of Charges You May Encounter
If you’re planning on opting out of a smart meter, make sure you’re budgeting for those charges. In light of these new costs, consider looking into ways to cut back your bill to reduce the ouch factor. Energy costs are climbing every month lately. So, if you’re looking for ways to cut down on your electricity bill, we have all sorts of tips and tricks. And if you’re looking for a new plan, check out www.ohenergyratings.com