in Barcelona
3 to 5 Nov 2026
Bryan Texas Utilities, the municipal power utility owned by the City of Bryan in Brazos County, Texas, announced on 26 October 2026 that it will replace about 50,000 advanced metering infrastructure meters in phases over five years, starting on Monday 2 November 2026, weather permitting. The utility says it will change more than 9,000 meters a year, using its own meter technicians, because the smart meters installed from 2011 are approaching the end of an expected service life of about 15 years.
A 15-Year Meter Cycle Reaches Its First Replacement
BTU introduced smart meters across its service area in 2010, according to the utility’s company history, and by 2012 all customer meter data was being transmitted wirelessly. The current programme is therefore the first full replacement cycle of that fleet, and its 50,000-meter scale is set against a customer base that BTU puts at more than 71,000 in Bryan, parts of College Station, Brazos County and parts of Robertson and Burleson Counties.
The utility owns and operates more than 220 MW of natural gas-fired generation, maintains more than 2,500 miles of distribution lines and about 200 miles of transmission lines, and has been municipally owned since 1909. Its board was created by Bryan City Council ordinance in 2001, and the council appoints its members.
In-House Crews And Bulk Procurement
BTU states that the meters were bought in bulk to keep costs down and that installation will be carried out by its in-house meter technicians rather than a contractor, which keeps the pace of the programme tied to the size of its own field team. Power is briefly interrupted while each meter is swapped and is restored when the work is finished.
Customer communication follows a fixed sequence. Customers who have opted in to text alerts receive a message the week before a crew visit, BTU emails the addresses it holds on file, and a door hanger left after each visit shows whether the installation was completed or a return visit is needed. The utility asks customers to keep their contact details current through its contact update page or by telephone on (979) 821-5700.
Doug Lyles, General Manager of Bryan Texas Utilities, said in the utility’s 26 October 2026 announcement: “These meters have served their purpose well, but no piece of equipment lasts forever.”
What 9,000 Meters A Year Means In Practice
Spread across five years, 50,000 meters equates to 10,000 a year, so the stated pace of more than 9,000 a year leaves a small margin for weather days, failed first visits and return calls. On a working-day basis, 9,000 installations over about 250 days is a requirement of 36 meters per day across the full territory, a figure that depends on crew numbers and on the proportion of premises that need a second visit.
Benchmark From A Larger Texas Programme
A comparable programme at El Paso Electric, which serves Texas and New Mexico, had installed more than 312,000 smart meters of a planned 528,000 by mid-2024, with Itron acting as communications vendor and contractor and Texas Meter Devices handling installation, according to a Renewable Energy World report published on 18 July 2024. That programme was run through a contractor-led model with a separate $4.6 million meter data management contract awarded to Oracle, in contrast to BTU’s approach of bulk meter purchase and its own technicians.
