UI to upgrade residential meters

Woodbridge Police Chief Gene Marcucci and First Selectman Ellen Scalettar want Woodbridge residents to know that United Illuminating staff will be upgrading residential meters on 1,500 homes in Woodbridge now through July.

United Illuminating staff will need to come onto residential property to upgrade the meters. Residents should look to see that representatives are wearing blue UI uniforms, carrying identification and will be in white UI-marked trucks or vans.

“We want residents to be comfortable that this is not a scam,” said Scalettar. “As long as the United Illuminating staff are carrying identification and arrive in UI vehicles, you should feel comfortable allowing them on your property. They do not, however, need to enter your home.”

“In this day and age residents should be wary of scams,” said Marcucci, “so we are thankful that United Illuminating told us ahead of time about their plans to upgrade meters in Town.”

The new residential meters are called “smart meters” and have been in use for more than 10 years. The meter is required to deliver and measure electricity use. Currently half of UI customers have smart meters. UI will upgrade all customers to smart meters.

In addition to measuring meter usage necessary for billing, the meters will also alert UI when there is a power outage and will help cut down on power restoration time.

The meter transmits encrypted energy usage information, including outages, to UI through a low-power frequency band. Low-power frequency bands are also used on cell phones, baby monitoring systems, and electric garage door openers among many other commonly used technologies.