March 11, 2022

Attempting to reach 100% in any endeavor is a lofty goal. However, FirstEnergy’s Smart Meter Team recently came one step closer, recording a 99.63% read rate for the first time. According to Tom Dugan, manager, Smart Network Technology & Engineering, the achievement can be attributed to a dedicated group of employees that is constantly fine-tuning the system.

“We’re really proud of our team,” Tom said. “It takes a lot of diligence and attention to detail to optimize the performance of the company’s smart meter network, but it’s a challenge our group embraces and enjoys.”

All of FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania operating companies – West Penn Power, Penn Power, Penelec and Met-Ed – have made the switch to smart meters, and the devices also are being rolled out across our Ohio service territory. JCP&L recently announced plans to install smart meters for New Jersey customers, beginning in 2023.

The Smart Network Technology & Engineering group – which operates out of the Dunbar (Pa.) Service Center in West Penn Power’s territory – is responsible for monitoring and ensuring communications with the meters. “We read more than 2.7 million meters every day,” continued Tom. “FirstEnergy has installed more than 2 million smart meters in Pennsylvania and about 700,000 in parts of Ohio, and we communicate with each meter through the computer system at Dunbar.”

Achieving a 99.63% read rate means that out of 2.7 million smart meters, less than 10,000 did not return a signal. “The biggest barriers that affect our ability to communicate with smart meters are the same things that can affect cellphone coverage – significant changes in topography, inclement weather conditions and metal objects that can obstruct the signal,” explained Tom. “Our team is constantly investigating missing reads and looking for ways to mitigate these issues.”

(L.) Audra Tewell, associate equipment support technician, works to diagnose a problem with a connected grid router (CGR). CGRs are the backbone of the smart meter network. (R.) Technical Specialist Dave Baker uses his computer to run tests on a range extender. The laptop is connected to the device with an optical probe.

Tom’s first job with the company was as a meter engineering technician, and he has spent his entire 42-year career working with electric meters. He’s witnessed firsthand the transition from manually reading analog meters to remotely transmitting a customer’s electric usage using a digital smart meter – yet he’s still amazed at how the system works.

“What’s most impressive to me is that we can communicate with these meters across Pennsylvania, which has 30,000 square miles of rugged terrain,” said Tom. “We have customers located high in the mountains and down in valleys, and the right equipment must be installed in the right areas so their smart meters can send and receive radio signals.”

Tom added that the main ingredient for the success of the smart meter project has been teamwork – both within his group and with other parts of the company.

“Our Smart Meter Team has worked closely with multiple departments, including FirstEnergy line crews who installed all of the system’s routers and other equipment – and continue to help us troubleshoot problems and improve network performance,” said Tom. “The smart meter system is like a living, breathing network, and we are constantly monitoring the health of the system as we expand the technology into additional areas of our service territory.”

Check out the other stories in the March 10 issue of the Dispatch newsletter.

Dunbar – a Smart Place to Work The Dunbar Service Center houses a test lab and an operations area – everything the Smart Meter Team needs to conduct business. The facility also includes an outdoor meter farm where device functionality is thoroughly tested before smart meters are installed at a customer’s home or business. There are two parts of the smart meter system that Dunbar employees manage in conjunction with one another: Network Management – Monitoring the series of routers, range extenders and other devices that are used to gather energy usage information from smart meters and relay the data through a secure telecommunications network. Data Collection – Monitoring systems to ensure that every smart meter installed in FirstEnergy’s service territory has load and kilowatt-hour (kWh) data collected nightly – and following up with field investigations for any meter that could not be reached through the communications process. The Smart Network Technology & Engineering group – which operates out of the Dunbar Service Center – is responsible for reading more than 2.7 million meters every day.