Advanced Metering Infrastructure comes to eastern Dane County

Wisconsin Power and Light Company to begin remote meter reading program

Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL), an Alliant Energy company, will begin installing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for customers in Stoughton, Cambridge, Deerfield, Cottage Grove, McFarland and Oregon. This will take place over the next several months.

AMI uses remote two-way wireless communication to retrieve detailed customer energy usage information. “AMI technology will provide improved customer service, reduced overall costs and create a platform for future opportunities,” explains Barbara Siehr, Vice President of Customer Service. “Customer benefits include reduced need to access customer property, reduced number of estimated bills and better outage information with quicker power restoration.”

Since information is gathered more often, customers can benefit from additional time-based pricing programs to manage their energy use and costs in the future. It will also allow WPL to better forecast energy needs during peak times and improve overall efficiency.

Alliant Energy has contracted with VSI Meter Services to perform the majority of the installations. Those crews will be working in the communities listed above throughout the next several months. Electric meters will be replaced, which may cause a brief interruption in electric service. Gas meters are being retrofitted with an AMI module which should not cause an interruption in gas service. Customers will be notified by mail prior to their scheduled installation.

Meters will continue to be read manually until the new AMI system has been tested and is fully operational in these areas.