FortisBC’s announced last week that the company’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program will start rolling out in Osoyoos and across the South Okanagan next spring.

The project will begin this fall in the Trail-Salmo area and will start in the South Okanagan in May of 2015.

“Advanced meters (smart meters) open the door for new and exciting options for our electricity customers,” said Tom Loski, FortisBC vice-president, customer service. “For the first time, our electricity customers will have the ability to move to monthly billing and select their own billing date. Advanced meters also help us better pinpoint power outages, meaning a more efficient response.”

Neal Pobran, FortisBC’s director of corporate communications, said close to 1,900 smart meters will be installed in Osoyoos starting next May.

It should take approximately two months to install all of them with the project expected to be wrapped up near the end of July, said Pobran.

Property owners will be given advance notice by mail that smart meters are being installed, he said.

It takes roughly 10 minutes to install a smart meter and the power will have to be turned off for those 10 minutes, said Pobran.

Customers who have taken advantage of the “radio off” option will still have smart meters installed on their homes, but the electro-magnetic signals used to transmit information to FortisBC will be turned off and those meters will continue to be read by meter readers, he said.

Only five customers in Osoyoos have indicated they want the radio off option as of Monday, he said.

Those who have selected the radio off option will have to pay $60 before the installation programs begins or $88 after installation has started, he said. They will also have to pay $18 every two months.

FortisBC is excited to finally be completing the AMI project, he said.

“We’ve been working on this project for more than two years and it has been one year since we gained regulatory approval, so we are excited to get the project moving forward,” he said.

FortisBC is spending $51 million to install tens of thousands of smart meters to its customers, he said.

Online tools that allow customers to see their energy use will be available in the coming months.

Below is the scheduled timeline for meter exchanges:

 Trail-Salmo area – September 2014 to December 2014

 Kelowna – January 2015 to April 2015

 South Okanagan – May 2015 to July 2015

 Similkameen and Boundary – August 2015 to October 2015

 Kootenays – November 2015 to December 2015

FortisBC will notify customers by mail before their meter is exchanged.

Customers do not have to be home for the exchange to take place. However, the exchange will require a brief power outage lasting only a few minutes. FortisBC asks that customers leave safe access to their meter, including keeping dogs and other pets away. Once an advanced meter has been installed, customers will receive an information package.

FortisBC will install 130,000 smart meters on the homes and businesses of customers spread across the South Okanagan.

“We expect to achieve $13 million in savings over the life of this project,” he said.

For more information about the AMI project, or the radio-off option, customers can visit fortisbc.com/ami or call 1-866-436-7847.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times