Duke Energy Ohio customers will be assessed new charges on their electric and natural gas bills, starting this week, to pay for the company’s installation of advanced metering technology.

The so-called “smart grid” technology is designed to allow utilities to more quickly pinpoint areas affected by service outages, and allow customers to monitor their energy consumption and gain some control of expenses by adjusting usage throughout the day.

According to initial plans, daily energy usage will be available to customers online the next day, Duke Energy said. It is eventually hoped that customers will be able to monitor energy consumption in real time.

Duke’s Ohio residential customers will pay 49 cents more per month and natural gas customers will pay 12 cents more per month. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio gave approval last week and the new charges started Monday, May 17.

Duke said that with the “smart meters,” it will be able to read meters remotely, eliminating the need for estimated bills for customers equipped with those meters. It will also allow remote service connections and disconnections, eliminating the need for scheduling service appointments.

Duke Energy supplies electricity and natural gas to about 700,000 customers from the Ohio River to the southern fringe of Montgomery County.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.