When I Switch Electric Suppliers, What Happens to My Meter?

When electric customers think about switching electric suppliers in order to reduce monthly electric bill expenses, one of the questions they ask is, what happens to my meter?

Regardless of the type of switch either from an electric utility to a retail electric supplier or from one retail electric supplier to another the answer is nothing. The meter stays right where it is, unchanged, and electric customers have nothing to worry about.

Meters are owned, operated, serviced, and read by the electric utility that distributes electricity to homes (and is responsible for other equipment, such as wires, poles, and transformers). Each meter is individually matched to a particular home and is not altered unless the electric utility decides to, say, repair the meter or upgrade it as part of a system-wide transition to Smart Meters.

Customers who switch electric suppliers will still contact their utility for things like outages, downed power lines or to report problems with their meters.