TURTLE METERS

Butte Electric Cooperative has an automatic meter reading (AMR) system called the "Turtle." This is a unique system where a transmitter is installed in each meter, which records a KWH and KW reading every 27 hours and then sends the information to our office by a low frequency signal over the power lines. It then takes a couple of days for the information to reach our office (hence the name Turtle) and is stored in a database with a variety of other information.

There are several benefits of the Turtle AMR. Butte Electric Cooperative gets a reading every 27 hours so usage can be narrowed down to a much shorter time period. There is also a peak demand recorded in this period which helps with correct transformer and service sizing along with usage concerns. The Turtle meter enables Butte Electric Cooperative to track blinks that may occur on the lines along with outages. For billing purposes, the meters are read on or about the 19th of each month, which gives a uniform billing period of about 30 days. And the biggest benefit is that our members are no longer asked for a monthly meter reading.