PUD program seeks to make energy grid smarter for 380K customers

MILL CREEK — At a Mill Creek home predating the Cuban Missile Crisis, a Snohomish County Public Utility District employee changed its electric meter.

It was replaced with a 21st century version Thursday morning — one of the first of 380,000 new meters being installed over the next three years.

Both kinds of meters tell a utility provider how much energy you’re using. Through PUD’s new ConnectUp program, energy customers will have a bit more usage data, and the utility will too.

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The new meters won’t need a PUD employee or contractor to physically show up and read the kilowatts. Now data will be sent directly to the utility, allowing the agency to more easily find power outages. It will allow the PUD to respond quickly and have a better idea of how many customers are without power.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/pud-program-seeks-to-make-energy-grid-smarter-for-380k-customers/