What a smart electric meter records and sends to the utility > 공지사항

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A smart meter and an old analog meter both measure the electricity that flows into your house. They count kilowatt-hours, the same unit you see on your bill. The difference is how they tell the utility what they count. The old meter has a spinning metal disk with dials on the face. A person has to walk up to the side of the house, read more the dials, and write the number down. The smart meter does the same job with a radio inside it. It records your usage in short intervals and sends those readings back to the utility over a wireless network.

The industry calls the whole setup AMI, which stands for advanced metering infrastructure. Most houses built or updated in the last ten years have one on the wall. The U.S. Energy Information Administration counted 147.1 million smart electric meters in the country at the end of 2025, across homes and businesses. You probably have one if you moved into a place recently and never saw a meter reader come by.

People sometimes worry about the radio. The meter does not transmit all day. It sends data in short bursts. How often depends on the utility's network setup. Published measurements taken near smart meters show the level is well below the FCC's limit once the on-off pattern is averaged in. The level also goes down fast as you walk away from the meter. Distance does most of the work. If you have a specific health concern about the radio signal, that is a question for your doctor, not for the utility.

Not everyone wants a meter with a radio. Most utilities will swap it out for a meter that has no radio, just the old spinning disk. But they do not do it for free. Opting out usually comes with a one-time fee and then a monthly charge. That monthly fee pays for someone to come read the meter by hand. The amounts vary a lot from one utility to another. Some utilities, including the big ones in California, offer a lower rate for low-income customers. Your utility's tariff is the official document that sets the fees. You should read that before you call to ask about the swap.

No sticker, shield or device that you buy online will block the signal or protect your health. The FCC handles questions about radio frequency exposure, and the utility handles the hardware on your wall. If you want to opt out, you talk to the utility. If you want to know what the published studies say about the radio levels, you can look up the measurements from government agencies. If you have a medical question, you talk to your doctor. Each question belongs in a different place.

More notes on this topic are at smart meters in plain numbers.