Many power companies now offer products and services to help their customers take advantage of the smart home. For example, many power companies offer an online marketplace, an Amazon-like website that allows you to purchase smart home and energy-efficient products, often with a significant rebate or incentive applied. On ComEd Marketplace, a website for Illinois’ largest power company, customers can purchase a Google Nest Thermostat for only $69 after instant rebate. Some power companies may give you a free smart thermostat or significant rebate if you enroll in a program to move your energy use away from times of high electricity usage (for example, the early evening on a hot summer day). These programs help power companies avoid using costly energy, and those savings are passed along to all customers, as well as the extra bill savings if you participate.

Field readings will continue only until readings from the new meters are validated as accurate and being processed correctly. Once the meters are fully operational, a meter reader will not need to access your property every month to read your meter.

The old meters are recycled.  Any newer, electronic meters utilities replace (such as solid state meters and OMR – offsite meter read – meters) are refurbished, tested and recycled back into the meter population until smart meters are installed in the area in which they are recycled. The older, electromechanical (dial) meters that are replaced are dismantled and all their components – such as aluminum, copper, glass et cetera – recycled.