ORANGE, Conn. (APN) — Avangrid’s New York subsidiaries have installed more than 700,000 smart meters across upstate New York as part of a major grid modernization project, the company announced Tuesday.

NYSEG and RG&E are currently upgrading meters in eight divisions, including Ithaca, Rochester, and Binghamton, at a rate exceeding 50,000 installations per month. The companies plan to install 1.3 million electric smart meters and 600,000 natural gas modules statewide over the next two years.

“With this recent rash of thunderstorms, we’re seeing improvements to outage response in the areas where they’ve been installed,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO.

The smart meters enable automatic usage tracking and more accurate billing, replacing estimated readings with real-time consumption data.