Advanced Metering Infrastructure

 

The City is upgrading its utility metering system with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which is commonly referred to as “smart meter” or “smart grid” technology. AMI allows a utility to digitally read utilities meters to measure energy and water usage at a home or business. AMI allows customers to view hourly energy and water usage online and receive leak alerts.

Benefits for Customers

  • The ability to track ongoing utility consumption data to make informed decisions about energy and water use
  • Enabling the timely detection of water leaks
  • Better supporting customer adoption of solar panels, energy storage, and electric vehicles
  • Reduced power restoration time for outages

Benefits for CPAU

  • Enabling implementation of time-of-use (TOU) electricity rates
  • Providing near-real time data on energy and water consumption and voltage information
  • Hassle-free transfer of service, eliminating the need for appointments to turn service on or off
  • Enabling enhanced responsiveness to maintain equipment, which will result in higher levels of electric reliability
  • Faster detection of electrical outages, causes, and shorter restoration time
  • Reduced operational costs
  • Better distribution system management, leading to greater reliability

Once Your Meter has been Upgraded

You will have access to hourly/daily energy consumption in your MyCPAU and water consumption in your WaterSmart portal within a few days of your usage. You will be able to get alerts about possible leaks on your property through the WaterSmart portal.

How AMI Works

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) uses radio and cellular signals for data transmission from utility meters. The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) is upgrading its electric meters and adding AMI radios to existing water and gas meters. AMI technology has become standard in the utilities industry.

An advanced meter tracks your use of electricity, gas, and water. Unlike old meters, it wirelessly sends data to the CPAU service center. Thus, CPAU staff don’t need to visit your home or business for monthly readings. The advanced meters collect hourly and daily usage along with voltage information. Advanced meters are digital. They are often more accurate than mechanical meters, which degrade and slow down with age. Advanced meters must meet strict design standards, and CPAU regularly tests them to confirm their accuracy.

An electric advanced meter fits into the existing size and shape of the meter base currently at your location. Radios installed on existing gas and water meters will also be located next to existing meters. Meter location will not change. There is no direct charge to customers for the meters, just like other utility system upgrades. Meters, like other equipment upgrades made to the utility system, are part of CPAU’s capital expenditure and have been included in budget projections.

AMI Project Completion Timeline

We anticipate that 95% of gas and water meters will be upgraded by the end of February 2025. The remaining 5% have issues like obstruction, lack of access, and required equipment repairs. Due to inventory issues, some upgraded electric meters have taken longer to source, and we expect to have those 95% installed by end of April 2025. The remaining 5% for all three utilities should be completed by end of 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the technology safe?

Tens of millions of advanced meters have been installed in the US in the past 10 years. The annual radio frequency emissions and human exposure from cell phone use is estimated at 1,000+ times of that from an advanced meter. Read some FAQs about radio frequency and electromagnetic radiation(PDF, 552KB) related to advanced meters.

Find research documents related to radio frequency and advanced meters from the reputed Palo Alto based Electric Power Research Institute, Federal Communication Commission, Environmental Defense Fund, and the California Council on Science and Technology.

The AMI network is on a 900 megahertz (MHz) Federal Communication Commission (FCC) licensed radio band. A 2 Watt powered radio embedded in the meter is expected to transmit data on an hourly basis.

What type of data will be collected from my meters and my home, and how securely will my data be stored?

Only your utility usage and voltage information will be collected from the meters. The suppliers of AMI equipment, software and cloud-based data hosting service are respected and reputable companies that meet all applicable national, state, and industry standards on personal information privacy and cyber-security controls.

Can I opt out?

Eligible residential customers can opt-out of the AMI program for electric and gas meters. There is no opt-out option for water meters.

  • AMI Opt-Out Fee for C-1 rate schedule: $100 one time set up charge and $25 monthly processing fee
  • AMI Opt-Out Fee for C-4 rate assistance schedule: $50 one time set up charge and $10 monthly processing fee

To inquire about opting out, please call Utilities Customer Service at (650) 329-2161.

How do I access the new AMI data?

Once your meters are upgraded, your MyCPAU portal and WaterSmart portal will automatically be updated to see your usage data. Use our how-to guide(PDF, 429KB) to see how to access your usage data in MyCPAU and check out our WaterSmart FAQs to learn more about how to view hourly usage and check for leaks. 

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