Smart Meters
A Smarter, Cleaner Energy Future for New Jersey: Smart Meters
PSE&G is replacing existing electric meters with new smart meters throughout our electric service territory. These smart meters will provide our electric customers with more information about their energy use and allow PSE&G to provide even better customer service.
About Smart Meters
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What to
Expect
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn MoreAbout Smart Meters
Smart meters are devices that send near real-time electric-use information from our customers’ homes and businesses to PSE&G via a secure communications network.
They are part of PSE&G’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program, which connects smart meters to PSE&G system-monitoring and customer applications. This will create an integrated, two-way communications system between customers and PSE&G.
Smart Meter Benefits
Smart meters provide a number of benefits, including:
- Near real-time meter reading that is even more accurate, and the elimination of almost all estimated electric bills.
- Enhanced electric-use information for customers that will allow you to make more informed energy decisions.
- Near real-time power-outage detection and more efficient power restoration following storms.
- Reduced PSE&G carbon dioxide emissions in the short-term, and the enabling of more renewable energy projects and more robust energy efficiency efforts in the long-term.
These are just some of the benefits that smart meters will provide now and into the future.
Smart Meter Safety
Smart meters are safe. They use low power radio frequency (RF) that is generally far less than RF used by devices already in the home such as baby monitors, cell phones, microwaves, TVs and wireless routers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there are more than 110 million smart meters already installed at about 70% of homes across the country.
Privacy and Cybersecurity
Smart meters do not collect, store or transmit any personal information.
PSE&G also has a comprehensive cybersecurity plan to protect the data that the smart meters do collect, and we will only use this information to provide better service to customers. PSE&G will not sell this data to third parties.
What You Can Expect
Smart Meter Installation Schedule
Smart meter installations began in 2021, but most customers will have a smart meter installed between 2022 and 2024. The exact timing of the installation will depend on the geographic location of your home or business as workers make their way through PSE&G electric service territory from the north, south and west.
Installation Details
- PSE&G has hired Contract Callers, Inc. (CCI) to perform most smart meter installations.
- Either a PSE&G employee, or a CCI employee, will install the new smart meter. Both PSE&G and CCI employees will use marked vehicles and carry photo identification.
- We will send you a letter before we replace the existing electric meter with a new smart meter.
- If the meter is located outside and is accessible, you don’t need to be available at the time of the installation and there is nothing more you need to do.
- Most installations take only a few minutes, and there will be a brief power interruption while the technician changes the meter. We will let you know that we installed your new smart meter.
- Our smart meter quality-control vendor, TESCO, is conducting installation inspections throughout our electric service territory. TESCO representatives will also drive marked vehicles and carry photo identification.
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If you are a residential electric customer and your meter is located indoors or is otherwise inaccessible, please schedule a smart meter installation by calling 800-651-4418. Representatives are available Monday – Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
NOTE: You only need to make an appointment if the electric meter is not accessible. If the electric meter is located outside and is accessible, you don’t need to be available at the time of the installation and there is nothing more you need to do.
Opting-Out of a Smart Meter Installation
New Jersey residential customers can opt-out of having a smart meter installed by calling PSE&G at 908-325-4020. NOTE for PSEG Long Island customers: please call 1-800-490-0025 or visit: https://www.psegliny.com/myaccount/serviceandrates/mysmartenergy/smartmeter
Commercial customers cannot opt-out of a smart meter installation.
If you opt-out of a smart meter before installation, there will be a $12 monthly fee added to your bill in 2024. This fee will cover part of the cost of the manual meter reading that will be required.
If you opt-out of a smart meter after a smart meter has been installed, you will incur a one-time $45 meter change-out fee, in addition to the $12 monthly fee.
In addition to these charges, you will also miss out on all of the benefits that smart meters provide. Most notably:
- You may still receive estimated bills from PSE&G if we cannot access your meter.
- PSE&G will not be able to automatically detect that you are experiencing a power outage.
- You will not have access to the enhanced electric-usage information that smart meter customers will have. This information may help you to lower your electric usage and may help PSE&G respond to questions about your usage or bills.
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PSE&G received approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to implement our Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program. Smart meters are a key piece of AMI, which will link the smart meters to PSE&G system-monitoring and customer applications via a secure communications network. This will create an integrated, two-way communications system between customers and PSE&G.
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Currently installed electric meters log the amount of electricity a customer uses in-between physical meter readings. Smart meters send near real-time electric-use information to PSE&G via a secure wireless communications network.
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Yes. The new smart meters will replace currently installed electric meters.
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PSE&G will install 2.3 million smart meters at residential and business electric customer locations.
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A worker from either PSE&G, or our meter installation vendor, Contract Callers, Inc (CCI), will install your smart meter. Workers will carry photo identification and drive marked vehicles.
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Although work began in 2021, most customers will have a smart meters installed between 2022 and the end of 2024.
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We expect that it will take about four years to install 2.3 million meters. Work started in early 2021 and we expect to finish by the end of 2024.
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Yes. PSE&G has a comprehensive cybersecurity plan to protect customer usage data collected by smart meters.
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Yes. The new smart meter will also function as a net meter.
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We will only use data obtained through smart meters to provide better service to customers. PSE&G will not sell this data to third parties. Smart meters also do not collect, store or transmit any personal information
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If your account has an indicator that life-sustaining equipment is in use, we will contact you to arrange for a smart meter installation. If you or someone in your home relies on life-sustaining equipment and you have not made us aware, it is important that you notify PSE&G by either visiting pseg.com/life or calling us at 1-800-436-PSEG (7734).
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In the short term, we expect smart meters to lower PSE&G’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 2,800 metric tons per year by reducing the number of PSE&G trucks that we dispatch and providing additional operational energy savings. In the future, smart meters could pave the way for the broader adoption of renewable energy resources like rooftop solar systems and enable more robust energy efficiency efforts.
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The smart meters we are using have already passed manufacturer tests to confirm accuracy during various electric load and weather conditions. PSE&G also tests a percentage of all meters we receive from the manufacturer prior to installing them and we continue to monitor meter accuracy after installation by conducting routine sampling and testing.
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Yes. Because smart meters relay near real-time information, it will be easier for PSE&G to determine the scope of power outages, identify specific areas experiencing outages, allocate and dispatch appropriate repair crews and determine almost instantly that we restored power to all customers following repairs.
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Yes. Smart meters will alert PSE&G about most outages, but it is important that customers continue to tell us about any problems so that we can address them as quickly as possible.
