How to Read Your Meter
All of Access Energy Cooperative’s meters have a numeric display showing the number of kilowatt-hours the meter has recorded since it was installed. To determine your current usage, take the current reading and subtract the reading you recorded on a previous day. In most cases this will be your usage during that time period.
Some electronic meters have a multiplier. If your meter has a multiplier, you can find the multiplier on your bill. If your meter has a multiplier, you will need to multiply the reading you just calculated by this number.
For instance if you recorded a reading of 52,100 a month ago and your meter reading is currently 53,200, you would subtract the two to get a usage of 1,100 kWh. If, however, your meter has a multiplier of 20 the actual usage for the month would be 20 * 1100 or 22,000 kWh.
How Accurate Are our Meters?
At Access Energy Cooperative, all of our watt-hour meters must be accurate to within ±1.5% at full and light load. To verify meters are operating within these parameters, we test a random statistical sample of our meters each year.If you feel your meter is not working properly, please contact our office and talk with our energy advisor who can help see if your concern can be resolved.
When Should I Ask to Have my Meter Tested?
Meter tests should be a last resort instead of the first.
Meters measure energy use and demand. Because they are an electronic device, it is rare for them to run fast. They are seldom the cause of a higher bill, but often blamed.
Less than 1 out of 1,000 meters are tested to be wrong when tested. This includes running slow or running fast.
If after talking with an energy advisor your issue is not resolved, you may request the meter be tested. An advance deposit is required prior to performing the meter test. If the meter is found to be within the ±1.5%, we will retain the deposit to cover the expenses of the meter test. If the meter is found to be registering outside the ±1.5% we will refund the deposit and review the account.
Contact our energy advisor by:
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Calling our office at 319-385-1577 or toll free at 1-866-242-4232
Automated Meter Information (AMI)
What is AMI?
Access Energy Cooperative employs a meter reading system called the Automated Meter Information System (AMI), which not only allows meters to be read remotely from the Mt. Pleasant office and reduces meter reading costs, but also detects power outages. This system automates our reading and billing procedure, reducing costs associated with these fixed facilities costs.
The majority of our meter reading system automatically collects data several times a day, only providing an efficient method for meter reading, but also allowing data to be used by SmartHub for members to monitor their energy use.
Advantages to You
Since this system utilizes two-way communication, the meter not only talks to our Mt. Pleasant office, we are able to talk back to the meter. Having the ability to “talk” to the meter provides many opportunities for you and your cooperative.
One area of particular interest is for outage notification. During the unfortunate event of a large outage, when members call in to report their power out, the phone lines are normally very busy. The system will notify us if a meter is without power. We still recommend calling our office to report your outage, or reporting it on SmartHub, as with very large outages, the system can become overloaded. This quick system-wide identification system greatly improves our ability to dispatch crews to fix the problems.
We can use the AMI system to detect and prevent meter tampering and theft detection.
The data obtained from the meters is extremely beneficial in assisting members with questions on their usage and helping them to manage their electric bills far more efficiently. It also assists the cooperative with being able to evaluate the efficiency of our total system.