WCEC Meters

WCEC’s Modern Meters Offer:

Remote disconnect/reconnect capability.
Outage detection.
“Blink” troubleshooting.
Meter tampering detection.
Remote view of usage details.

Reduced Operating Expenses:

Helps keep rates down.
Reduces the number of co-op vehicles on the road, saving fuel and man-hours.
Detects and pinpoints electricity theft.
Produces valuable data to help WCEC personnel work with members to lower kWh consumption.
Seamless integration with customer service, billing, engineering, and outage management computer systems.

Less Guesswork:

Offers factual data to help with designing electrical facilities.
Improved data collection ensures efficient and effective investments in new power lines, substations, etc.
Helps reduce line loss.

Improved Response Times:

Better data helps WCEC proactively prevent outages.
Ability for WCEC to query speeds restoration.

Other:

Provides greater member privacy by reducing on-premise visits.

Concerns?

WCEC’s meters offer enormous benefits. However, some members may have concerns. Seemingly legitimate but unscientific and unsupported criticisms or claims have raised concerns about privacy and/or health.

Privacy Concerns

The data from our new digital meters will only be used to help us serve our members better. We do not ever sell member data to any 3rd party and we adhere to a strict Privacy Policy to protect our members. Additionally, these meters will allow us to determine if someone tampers with your service.

Member’s kWh usage data will be collected and sent in small packets back to the cooperative and stored within billing records. This encrypted information will be sent in many very small information packets throughout the day. It’s extremely unlikely, but not impossible, that someone could access that information, but it will only include metering data that is meaningful to the cooperative. It will not include member’s personal data such as address, social security number, banking data, or any other identifying information.

As some detractors claim, there will be no way for the cooperative or anyone to “see” or “hear” inside your home or business or to “detect” the types of appliances or equipment being used. All equipment will be mounted outside at the point of service and will not include cameras or any other devices to collect private data.

Summary

WCEC is a not‐for‐profit private business that is solely owned and operated by the members who receive electric service from our company. When our board of directors approves a policy or procedure for the use of new equipment and technologies, they do so knowing that it will also apply to their own homes and their own families. In using this type of metering system, we have not only deemed it to be a wise and safe choice for all co‐op members and their families, but our own families as well.

Health Concerns

Research conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Electric Power Research Institute, the Utilities Telecom Council, and others, has found no negative health impacts from digital meters that send information via a wireless communications network. The radio frequencies (RF) emitted by digital meters fall well below the maximum recommended in federal guidelines.

People are continuously exposed to very low levels of natural and man-made radio frequency fields or RF. Even the earth’s surface and the human body are constant sources of RF fields. Digital meters send information about home electricity use by RF signals. WCEC meters will emit RF similar to that of many common household devices such as baby monitors, cordless phones, and remote-controlled toys and medical monitors. And in fact, cell phones and cordless phones emit much greater RF and people hold them up to their heads.

The exposure from new meters is much lower than other common sources for 2 reasons:

Infrequent signal transmission
Distance

On a daily basis, the cooperative’s meters emit less than 5 minutes per day. In addition, these meters are outside a wall separating the meter from the living space. This combination of placement and infrequent operation means that you would need to be within 1 foot of 7,000 digital meters all communicating at the same time to reach the FCC exposure limit.

Summary

To Opt Out

For those members who choose it, we offer a non-standard meter option.

WCEC Non-Standard Meter Order Form

Choice & Flexibility in Metering

At WCEC, we have adopted standard metering that offers both members and the co-op many advantages. But, we also support our member’s rights. Members may elect to have an older technology non-communicating meter installed at their point of service.

Costs & Associated Fees

There is an added cost for the co-op to maintain non-standard meters.
A WCEC employee will be required to physically travel to the meter location and manually read the meter.
Also, WCEC will need to perform extra non-standard record-keeping.
To defray the costs, those who elect this optional service will be put on a special rate as follows:
Enrollment Fee: $120 (1 x $120 charge). Monthly Fee: $30 (Monthly meter reading and maintenance).

Digital Meter vs. Non-Standard Features

Feature	Digital	Non-Standard
Remote Connect	Yes	No
Remote Disconnect	Yes	No
Future real-time access to usage data via Internet	Yes	No
Setup Charge	$0	$120
Monthly Administration Fee	$0	$30
Monthly WCEC site visits to read meter	No	Yes

WCEC Non-Standard Meter Order Form

Member Name(Required)

First Last

Member Account Number(Required)

Service Address(Required)

Street Address Address Line 2 City State ZIP Code

Mailing Address(Required)

Street Address Address Line 2 City State ZIP Code

Daytime Phone Number(Required)

Number of Meters(Required)

Total Due (Number of meters, $120 per meter)(Required)

Member Signature (Full Name)(Required)

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

To process via mail, send the completed form with a $120 non-refundable payment, per meter, to:

Wood County Electric Cooperative
Attention: Metering Department
PO Box 1827, Quitman, TX 75783

At all times, WCEC reserves the right to access and inspect the member’s property and the equipment associated with this service.