Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) is upgrading our metering system by adding a communication device to all residential and business natural gas meters. Your gas usage is still measured the same way it is today, but with the advanced meter, it is automatically and securely transmitted to our customer service and billing center. And with an advanced meter, you will have access to view hourly, daily and weekly gas usage, as well as up to 13 months of monthly data (depending on how long you’ve been enrolled in My Account). By better understanding how much gas you’re using and when, you can better identify ways to save.
SoCalGas will install the advanced meter on nearly six million natural gas meters starting in late 2012 through 2017.
See when we will be in your neighborhood:
» View installation schedule
Why change to advanced meters?
SoCalGas has been providing safe and reliable service to the communities we serve for more than 140 years. This technology evolution allows us to more efficiently serve our customers and empower them with more information about their gas usage so they can make more informed decisions and better control their energy bills. With the additional information advanced meters provide, customers can:
- Better understand and manage gas use and costs
- Identify sudden usage spikes
- Make more informed decisions about their energy use and do their part to conserve resources now and for future generations
How does the advanced meter work?
With an advanced meter, your gas usage will be measured just as it is today by your current meter. And your bill will continue to be based on a monthly read of your usage.
However, we will no longer need to come to your property each month to manually read your gas meter. Instead, the advanced meter communication device will turn on for a fraction of a second each day to automatically read and transmit your encrypted gas usage information directly to one of our data collectors.
The information is then sent wirelessly to Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) for billing and presented to you via My Account. No sensitive, personally identifiable customer information is transmitted. And by having more frequent and detailed information about your gas usage, you can make more informed choices to better manage and control your gas costs.
The advanced meter is powered by two special AA batteries, similar in technology to those used in pacemakers. Battery voltage is reported along with gas usage data, so we can monitor the batteries and replace the device as necessary. Because the energy required to transmit the data is so low, these batteries are expected to keep a charge for at least 20 years.
Find out more about advanced meter:
» View the introduction video