Advanced power meters

Learn the basics about EPCOR's advanced power meter program, which helps automate the collection and transmission of electricity usage at your home or business.

On this page

About advanced power metering
What advanced metering means for you
System technology: advanced power meters
Answers to your frequently asked questions
Opt out of advanced power meters

About advanced power metering

The power meter at your home or business records and stores the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity you use. Advanced power meters encrypt this usage data and transmit the information directly to us, which means we get a daily power meter reading in just seconds.

With the advanced metering system we don't need to access your property to read your power meter, but meter readers may still need to access your home to read your water meter and for occasional maintenance and safety inspections.

What advanced metering means for you

Our city continues to grow at a rapid rate and we need to manage our electricity infrastructure to keep up. A modernized metering system helps us reduce operating costs, increase the reliability of the electricity services we provide, and enable us to serve you more effectively in the coming years.

Benefits of advanced power metering include:

Bills that reflect actual consumption.
Nearly all estimated meter reads have been eliminated.
More accurate information.
For you when you're moving in or out of your home or business.
Remote hook ups and disconnections.
For residential customers.
Timely information in the event of a power outage.
The Advanced Power Metering System is a key step in allowing us to determine the specific outage area and dispatch a crew faster to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
Assistance detecting meter tampering and electricity theft.
A cost saving for all customers.

Advanced water meter infrastructure

Looking for information on the advanced metering infrastructure for water meters?

System technology: advanced power meters

The technology installed throughout Edmonton has been used in North America for more than 15 years and meets all of the standards currently set out by Health Canada and the World Health Organization for Radio Frequency.

Meter activity

Both residential and commercial advanced meters are active for about 1.5 minutes per day. The advanced metering system communicates to EPCOR using Radio Frequency (RF) emissions over the 900 MHz Industrial and Scientific Measurement (ISM) band. This technology is similar to that used by baby monitors, wireless internet networks, cordless phones and garage door openers.

More information

See Health Canada for information on Radio Frequency (RF) energy.

Health Canada sets the RF Exposure Guidelines called "Limits of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Energy in the Frequency Range from 3kHz to 300GHz," commonly known as Safety Code 6.

Radio frequency exposure

According to Health Canada, the RF energy used by the meter is typically transmitted at much greater distance from the body than common RF household devices (cell phones, wi-fi, baby monitor, etc.), resulting in very low RF exposure levels — similar to AM or FM radio broadcast signal exposure.

Answers to your frequently asked questions

About advanced meters

The advanced power meters installed in Edmonton comply with all of the electricity measurement guidelines put forward by Measurement Canada.

Measurement Canada is responsible for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of measurement in the Canadian marketplace. They develop and administer the laws and requirements governing measurement; evaluate, approve and certify measuring devices; and investigate complaints of suspected inaccurate measurement.

Measurement Canada also tests sample meters of every make and model of meter prior to allowing them to be sold and installed in Canada. They also maintain a rigorous accreditation program that includes testing of any new or modified meter specification as well as regular audits of manufacturing facilities such as the one used by Landis+Gyr and EPCOR’s power meter lab. The Notice of Approval for the advanced meter to be used at your location can be found on Measurement Canada’s website: AE-2041 approval.

The information is used to provide timely and accurate data to your retailer for your bill is simply improved. Other information we'll be collecting will aid in providing safe, reliable electricity. This can include power outage/restoration information, voltage, tampering indicators, etc.

Safety

We complete visual inspections throughout the City of Edmonton on an ongoing basis.

If there's a safety concern with your meter socket or wiring, you'll receive a letter from us notifying you of the repairs needed. Follow the instructions on the letter and we'll help you get your electrical facilities up and running safely again.

Advanced meters notify us if it has been tampered with in any way. This is done remotely over the same network the meter reads are sent over.

Privacy

We take your privacy very seriously. At no point is identifiable customer information (i.e. name, address, account number, etc.) stored within the meter — only your electricity consumption and a unique code that identifies the transmitter is stored. To provide further security, this data is encrypted before it's transmitted to us. It's the same encryption technology that many Canadian financial institutions use.

And don't worry. The only information contained within the meter is the unique transmitter code and electricity usage for that meter.

Keeping existing meters

We currently install advanced meters as its standard power meter within the City of Edmonton. If you choose not to have a standard meter installed at your location, a non-standard meter that doesn't have the capability to remotely communicate with us may be installed for eligible customers.

Read more about the opt-out program and customer eligibility.

The authority to install, exchange and remove an EPCOR electricity meter is granted under the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act (Section 40) and Electricity and Gas Inspection Regulations. For more information please see the EPCOR Distribution Connection Service Terms and Conditions and Measurement Canada.

Opt out of advanced power meters

We currently install advanced meters as the standard power meter within the City of Edmonton. If you choose not to have a standard meter installed at your home, we can install a non-standard meter that cannot remotely communicate with us.

To be eligible, your location must meet the following requirements:

Your property is an individual or multiple dwelling that doesn't have a multiple-meter installation (often referred to as a meter bank);
The service rating at the site is 200 amps or less; and
EPCOR has regular and ongoing access to the meter.

For more information, see EDTI's Terms and Conditions for Distribution Connection Services, Section 10.5 and Distribution Access Services Tariff 2017, Table 2.

Opting out costs

In December 2015, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) approved our application to recover the costs of manually reading non-standard meters. The following fees are applicable as of January 1, 2022 and are subject to change annually, as necessary.

If you have an advanced or standard meter:
There is no extra cost.
If you have a non-standard meter and decline the installation of a standard meter:
A monthly fee of $16.59 will be applied to your account for the costs associated with manually reading the meter at your location.
If you have an advanced, standard meter installed at your location and would like to have it exchanged for a non-standard meter:
A one-time fee of $87.18 will be applied to your account to cover the costs of the meter exchange. In addition, the monthly fee of $16.59 will be applied to your account for the costs associated with manually reading the meter at your location.
If at any point you decide to have an advanced, standard meter installed at your location:
We will complete the exchange free of charge. Note: We require written notification of this request and it may take up to 30 days to ensure the non-standard monthly meter reading fee is removed from your bill. Please contact us at 780-412-3288 or PowerMetering@epcor.com to make this request.

Applying for a non-standard meter

If you don't want a standard meter or if you want to have your existing standard meter removed, we require written notification of your request. Please fill out the non-standard meter request form and return it to us using the mailing address, email or fax numbers listed on bottom of the form.