Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) will soon begin the installation of approximately 6,800 new digital electric meters on residences and businesses throughout the city. The project is part of PSO’s efforts to upgrade electric metering systems to new gridSMART^{sm technology.}

^{Installation of the meters will begin in mid-October. PSO mailed letters to its Okmulgee customers on September 12 informing them of the plan.}

^{This will be PSO’s third major deployment of digital meters. Approximately 14,000 of the devices were installed in Owasso in the spring of 2011 and another 1,000 were installed on and around the campus of the University of Tulsa in March of this year.}

^{Unlike traditional analog electric meters, with digital meters PSO can remotely connect or disconnect service. Also, the meters, combined with access to a special Web portal, will allow account holders to view usage data and other information that can help in making informed decisions about individual energy use.}

^{"The installation of digital meters in Okmulgee will allow customers to have easy access to information about their individual electric usage and at the same time, provide greater customer privacy," said Derek Lewellen, PSO gridSMART manager. "PSO will be able to respond faster to service requests and, since the digital meters are read remotely, there will no longer be the need for a meter reader to enter the customer’s property every month."}

^{Installation of the new meters is expected to take approximately 3-4 weeks.}

^{PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 530,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. With headquarters in Tulsa, PSO has 4,308 megawatts of generating capacity and provides electricity to 230 cities and towns across a service area encompassing 30,000 square miles. News releases and other information about PSO can be found on the World Wide Web at PSOklahoma.com.}