New meters, high electric bills generate letters from readers To the Editor:

This is a problem plaguing a lot of citizens in Killeen and more in the state of Texas: Oncor has started installing a new “advanced” electrical meter.

The meter has a specification that allows transmit and receive capability, the use of scaling intelligence, and provides control capability. This is a residential meter and should not have this capability.

I have asked the Public Utilities Commission of Texas to have the meter withdrawn from use. I pointed this out to an Oncor representative, to which he replied “they can’t use these features.”

If they don’t intend to “use the feature,” then why did they specify an instrument that can? If they don’t intend to use this capability, then why was the meter specified this way and not a meter that includes transmit-only capability?

What was wrong with having a meter reader take readings like they have been doing for the past 100 years?

What was wrong with the old meter? The old meter has a 99.97 or higher accurate and the new meter is specified as 99.98 accurate. Is that really significant?

The only thing the new meter has accomplished is it cost the citizen more money.

Posted on Sunday, February 07, 2010 by Dennis Drury Killeen