AMERENUE BRINGS AUTOMATED METERS TO LOCAL REGION

The days of traditional meter readers making the neighborhood rounds are numbered. AmerenUE plans to replace all its electric meters in Southeast Missouri with new automated ones.

The switchover began three years ago in St. Louis, where the millionth automated meter was recently installed. Around 46,000 meters will be installed in territory AmerenUE serves in the Cape Girardeau region.

Installation will begin in earnest in November and December and is scheduled to be completed by March 2000.

Already, some 1,000 automated meters are in place locally. "Those are in new construction, new houses," explained Gallagher. The first were installed this spring.

"It's the world's largest system," explained Susan Gallagher with AmerenUE. "It's also the most sophisticated because we are including business, commercial, industrial and residential clients."

"There are four or five other systems in the country, but none are as large as ours."

The new meters use a radio signal and computer technology to transmit data.

The new meters are identical to the old ones, except that a radio transmitter is housed inside the glass cover.

"Service improvement is what led us to do it," Gallagher said. "Plus, we will know a great deal more about our customer's needs."

For example, the power company will know almost immediately if a power outage occurs. Customers won't have to call in reports of an outage.

Estimated bills will be eliminated. "About 30 percent of customers with estimated bills call to question the bill," Gallagher said. "With the new system you can track exactly how much energy you are using."

In fact, the system collects information every five minutes.

"You can see which days you use the most energy. What time you use the most energy. It can be helpful for conserving energy," she said.