Meter Exchange Program FAQs

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) and the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) provide useful information on the new meters. Our fact sheets provide helpful information as well.

Contact us via email at MeterExchangeInquiry@duqlight.com or by phone at 1-888-928-8539 (press "1" and follow the prompts.)

No. You do not need to be home for the work to take place.

Beginning in December 2016, the advanced digital meter will enable Duquesne Light to remotely start or stop your electricity. This will make it an easier, more convenient process for you when starting new service or transferring service to another location in our service territory.

Pennsylvania's Act 129 requires the state's seven largest electric distribution companies (EDCs) to develop energy efficiency and conservation plans and adopt other methods of reducing electricity used by customers, including the use of advanced metering infrastructure. State law does not allow customers to refuse the new meters.

Advanced digital meters will put more information in the hands of our customers, allowing you to make more informed decisions about your energy consumption. Having hourly electric usage information will enable you to better understand how much electricity you are using. By having access to near real-time information, you can begin to make informed decisions on how you are using energy. You then can determine if modifying or changing your behavior may help decrease your electric usage. Using less electricity will save you money and help the environment.
The new digital meter will operate as your existing meter does today, and you will not notice any difference in how it measures your electric use. As the advanced metering infrastructure is activated in your neighborhood, Duquesne Light will offer a variety of programs and services that can help you save energy, in addition to benefiting the environment.

Current Benefits

• Online tools that provide access to your electric usage information 24-7 and help you discover ways to manage your bill
• Email or phone alerts that reduce high bill surprise and worry and help you manage high-usage activity
• The ability to participate in optional Time-of-Use programs, if offered by energy generation suppliers, that may provide benefits to residential customers who can shift portions of their power use to non-peak hours
• A more convenient connection process when starting new service or transferring service to another location in our service territory.

Future Benefits

• The new meter technology, in conjunction with other system improvements, will enable us to provide outage alerts and time-restoration estimates that could help customers make plans during storm-related interruptions.

Given the ability to monitor energy use near real-time, consumers may begin adjusting thermostats, switching to more efficient lighting, turning off unneeded appliances, and making other energy-saving changes that may benefit the environment.

Our new advanced metering infrastructure is being deployed with multiple layers of security controls designed to protect the privacy and security of customer data.

Data transmitted across our advanced metering infrastructure is encrypted and does not include any personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses, social security numbers or banking information. Read our Data Privacy and Your New Meter fact sheet or review our Customer Specific Energy Usage Data policy and DLC's Corporate privacy policy for more information.

Expenses related to the advanced metering infrastructure are included in the Customer Charge on the monthly DLC bill of residential customers. "Smart Meter Charge" appears as a line item on the monthly bill of all commercial and industrial customers. The metering-related charge, which is reviewed and approved by the Public Utility Commission, is recalculated quarterly.

Act 129, enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature, requires all utilities with more than 100,000 customers to provide all customers smart meters. The Public Utility Commission (PUC) reviewed and approved, with modifications, Duquesne Light's plan to install smart meters. The PUC also reviewed and approved the company's smart meter charge.

Yes.

DLC will not contact you to ask for a payment to exchange your meter or threaten to disconnect your service if you do not send immediate, up-front payment pay for your new digital meter. View our scam alerts section for more information.

The new meter is part of a complete technology and infrastructure upgrade. The monthly charge recovers the cost of the meter, infrastructure costs and related administrative costs. Pennsylvania Act 129 requires all electric distribution companies (EDCs) in Pennsylvania with 100,000 or more customers to file a new digital meter plan. As part of those plans, EDCs were permitted to assess a charge to recover the costs of the meters and the related infrastructure.

This charge is reviewed and approved by the PUC quarterly, and is subject to change. While there is no definitive timeframe to date, the charge is expected to remain on your monthly bill as we work to complete meter exchanges for customers in our service territory by 2023 or sooner.

The new digital meter will operate as your existing meter does today, and you will not notice any difference in how it measures your electric use. As the advanced metering infrastructure is activated in your neighborhood, DLC will offer a variety of programs and services that can help you save energy, in addition to benefiting the environment.

Current Benefits

• Online tools that provide access to your electric usage information 24-7 and help you discover ways to manage your bill
• Email or phone alerts that reduce high bill surprise and worry and help you manage high-usage activity
• The ability to participate in optional Time-of-Use programs, if offered by energy generation suppliers, that may provide benefits to residential customers who can shift portions of their power use to non-peak hours
• A more convenient connection process when starting new service or transferring service to another location in our service territory.

Future Benefits

• The new meter technology, in conjunction with other system improvements, will enable us to provide outage alerts and time-restoration estimates that could help customers make plans during storm-related interruptions.

DLC's Watt Choices program offers a variety of ways you can save energy and money. Learn more at www.wattchoices.com.

As your meter is exchanged or activated on our advanced metering network, you will temporarily see multiple meter readings in the Meter Reading Usage Information section on page one of your bill. Depending on the timing of your billing cycle and when your meter is activated on the new network, these usage readings may span two separate bills. If the readings are included on one bill, three meter readings will be listed. If the readings span separate bills, you will see two meter readings on each of the two bills.

Radio frequency (RF) is a form of electromagnetic energy - both natural and man-made - that moves through space at the speed of light. Every day, people use or are in close proximity to many devices that use RF, including cell phones, microwave ovens, wireless Internet for your computer, baby monitors and garage door openers.

Your new meter will transmit RF waves only for short periods every day to send your energy-use information to DLC. RF waves weaken significantly as the distance between you and the device increases. The casing of a meter, as well as the walls of your residence, also decrease the level of RF energy.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has established safe limits for RF exposure. The RF exposure from your new meter is well below the limits set by the FCC. In addition, according to a study by the California Council of Science and Technology, wireless advanced meters, when installed and properly maintained, result in much smaller levels of RF exposure than most of the common household electronic devices listed above.

Further, the World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded that no adverse health effects have been demonstrated to result from exposure to low-level RF, such as that produced by your new meter.

View our fact sheet on radio frequency and your new digital meter for more information.

Pennsylvania's Act 129 requires the state's seven largest electric distribution companies (EDCs) to develop energy efficiency and conservation plans and adopt other methods of reducing electricity used by customers, including the use of advanced metering infrastructure.

DLC filed its final Smart Meter Procurement and Installation Plan with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on June 19, 2012.