Horizon Power will be visiting about 2000 homes and businesses across regional and remote Western Australia to replace the existing electricity meters.
More than 45,000 of our old dial meters at properties across our service area have been exchanged with new advanced meters. The remaining 2000 meters require specialised work and will be replaced over a six week period, beginning in Karratha.
The exchange work will require a planned power interruption of up to two hours but customers will not need to be home for this work to be carried out.
When the existing meter is replaced, Horizon Power will ensure the installation is safe by undertaking a service connection test. If we find a fault that can be quickly rectified, we will fix it. However, if you receive a Fault Note it means there is a safety issue at your house that we could not fix on the spot and you or your rental agency will need to engage a qualified electrical contractor to fix the fault.
Why are we changing the meters?
- The new advanced meters will result in more timely and accurate billing for our customers. Many customers were receiving estimated reads because of locked gates, dogs or other reasons we could not access the meter. The new advanced meters means estimated bills will largely be a thing of the past, except for some very remote customers.
- There is no charge to customers for the new meter or its installation, thanks to the State Government which has funded the project.
- When you are moving in or out of a home, we will be able to connect you or disconnect you from electricity more quickly than we could previously.
- We will be able to identify the cause of faults more quickly because we will be able to see whether the fault is inside the house, on the customer side, or on our network. If the fault is related to our network, we will send crews as soon as possible to rectify it.
Horizon Power received an increase in calls over the summer months from customers querying their bills as they were concerned the new meters were charging more for electricity. After extensive testing of the customer’s meters all meters have been found to meet Australian Standards and National Measurement Institute requirements for accuracy, with the exception of one meter, obviously damaged, that was quickly rectified.
Please note: If for some reason you are disconnected from power and need to reconnect, once our Customer Contact Centre has confirmed you have been reconnected, please press button 2 on your new meter (and wait until you hear a click) to reconnect the meter.
For more information, contact our media line 1800 799 745.