Some electricity suppliers are switching to new two-way communicating electric meters to connect to the electric grid.

If the devices only communicated one-direction, once a month, it would provide equal features to current meters and would greatly reduce the cost to read the meters. This could reduce maintence costs and service charges. This however is not the direction the Chelan PUD has taken.

Chelan PUD contractors and technicians are now installing Gen™5 by Itron electricity meters at commercial properties. These meters have two way communication capabilities at the frequency range of around 900 MHz to 2.48 GHz. These can monitor electric usage in real-time, this is a lot more data than was previously available. It also provides a way to disconnect many meters simultaneously without having to physically visit each meter.

The upgrade is optional only for single-phase residential meters and to opt-out has an additional charge of $25 per month. Yes, instead of maintaining the current service fee, and lowering the service fee for a more efficient meter, they have added additional cost. It is not about efficiency.

Chelan PUD also has specific rates for different types of electricity uses. For example they charge 7.89 cents per kWH for bitcoin mining, 2.65 cents per kWH for commercial use, and 2.7 cents per kWH for residential usage.

If it's not about efficiency, what is it about?