We’re exchanging all existing electric meters in Massachusetts with smart meters beginning in August.

This will enhance your service, empower you to make informed decisions about your energy use and modernize our electric grid. 

Over 72% of electric meters in the United States are smart meters. As of 2022, 119 million smart meters have been installed across the country. As your meter is ready to be replaced, it makes sense to replace it with the latest smart technology. 

It will take approximately three years to install new meters for all our Massachusetts electric customers, and we will begin in the western part of the state.

What is a Smart Meter?

A smart meter is a digital electric meter with wireless communication capabilities that transmits data to a network device, which then provides that data to our information systems.

They provide helpful near real-time data to you, including more detailed information about the energy you use. This information will be available through your online account or our free mobile app and help you better understand and adapt your energy use which can help lower your bill.

A smart meter also tells us whether your meter is functioning properly and if not, what may be wrong with it. This will allow us to address potential equipment issues before problems and/or outages occur.

Smart Meter Benefits

Your bill and energy use

You’ll be able to access the data collected by your smart meter through your online account, enabling you to monitor and manage the energy you use. You’ll also see the projected amount of your next bill. 

You’ll also be able to sign up to receive additional notifications, such as: 

• High usage alerts if the amount of energy you’re using exceeds a set threshold based on your historical energy usage. For example, if you usually use an average of 600 kWh a month, you could set the alert threshold to be slightly above that average and you would receive a message if you exceed that amount. Using more energy in a month could let you know that you have an appliance that may be malfunctioning.
• High bill alerts when your bill exceeds an amount threshold that you set during a billing cycle. This notification could help you prepare for a higher-than-normal bill or serve as a reminder to try and conserve energy for the rest of the billing cycle. 

Moving and power outages

• If you’re moving in or out of a residence, you won’t have to wait for a line truck to start or end service on site. Smart meters enable us to start or end service remotely. 
• We’ll be automatically notified if you lose power.  
• The data provided by smart meters will help us identify failing electrical equipment, potentially reducing the number of customer outages that occur from equipment failure.