Idaho Power has finished installing approximately half million smart electric meters in its service area, completing a three-year project that is part of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and the overall Smart Grid project.

Project Manager Mark Heintzelman says, “This has really improved our service to customers. We’re not going into customers’ yards or disturbing their dogs; and it’s extremely accurate. Meters are read remotely and the data goes directly from a customer’s meter to our billing system. Usage data is sent securely over the power lines—that means no radio frequency or wireless transmission, which has been a concern with other utilities.”

Prior to the smart meter deployment, Idaho Power collected six million meter reads per year. The utility can now collect 13 million meter reads per day and 14 billion reads per year.

In addition to saving money for both consumers and the company, other benefits of the smart meters include eliminating 80 vehicles from the Idaho Power fleet; saving on fuel and maintenance costs because employers won’t have to drive 1.6 million miles per year to read meters; and eliminating access issues like security gates and guard dogs.

More information also is available in the AMI case file with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and on the Idaho Power website. Customers are also encouraged to learn more about their home or business’s energy usage by becoming an Account Manager on the Idaho Power website.

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE: IDA), Boise, Idaho-based and formed in 1998, is a holding company comprised of Idaho Power Company, a regulated electric utility; IDACORP Financial, a holder of affordable housing projects and other real estate investments; and Ida-West Energy, an operator of small hydroelectric generation projects that satisfy the requirements of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. IDACORP’s origins lie with Idaho Power and operations beginning in 1916.

Idaho Power serves a 24,000 square-mile service area in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. With 17 low-cost hydroelectric projects forming the backbone of its generation portfolio, Idaho Power’s 492,000 residential, business, and agricultural customers pay some of the nation’s lowest prices for electricity. For more information, visit www.idahopower.com .

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