UTILITIES

Utility Offers Pay-As-You-Go Meters: Spokane-based Inland Power & Light Co., a cooperative utility, is promoting a new meter that allows customers to see how much electricity they have used in the past 24 hours and how much they are using at any given moment. Customers can determine which appliances consume the most power by watching the meter fluctuate as they turn devices off and on. Forty-four customers have had the PowerStat meters installed, and the utility says it expects to have 100 installed by the end of the year. Co-op members with the meters receive cards encoded with their account number and a pre-purchased amount of electricity. Customers add to their balance by inserting the card into the meter. When the balance falls to three days’ average use, a light on the meter begins blinking, indicating that it’s time to buy more electricity. When the balance drops to an hour of power, the meter emits a chirping sound. When it reaches zero, electricity is shut off. The meters prevent customers from falling behind on bill payment and encourage conservation, the utility says.