by Drew Francisco

Hello again everyone!

Spring is in the air, and I can’t wait for warmer temps and for things to finish thawing out. Crazy to think I’ve been in this position a year already!

I’ve spent the last few weeks roaming our service territory checking and replacing troublesome sub meters. Sub meters are the meters that control electric heating: whether it be dual fuel, storage heating or water heaters.

If I didn’t get a chance to see you at the homes/cabins I’ve visited, there would be a tag on your door indicating so.

A lot of the properties I’ve visited have had their controlled services breaker off while they’re away. I wanted to take some time to explain what happens to our meters when there isn’t power supplied to it. Once the power is shut off for the controlled service, the meter loses power and communication to our reporting system. This causes the meter to go into an “estimating” state. You can see this on your energy bill right before the kWH reading. If the meter is in an estimating state, it will use the electrical usage from the prior year for billing purposes. The bad thing about that is the usage from the prior year could be way less, causing a low bill amount. Or it could estimate high, causing an over payment on kWs that weren’t really used.

This can all be avoided by just making a phone call to the North Itasca Electric office. Letting us know that the breaker for your sub meter is off gives us the chance to move your meter into a “breaker off” category in our billing system, taking away the risk of estimated usage and saving your checkbook! This can be the case for your main residential meter on your property as well. If you have questions or want some more information, please contact us.

As we move into spring and those winter projects begin, please keep in mind there may be some opportunities for North Itasca Electric to help you get those projects completed.. It never hurts to give me a call and see what we can provide or come up with! Hope to hear from you and I look forward to continuing to serve the membership of North Itasca Electric.

Until next time,

Drew Francisco