About 1200 meters have been installed at Wodonga, Beechworth, Bright, Mount Beauty, Towong and Rutherglen.

An SP AusNet spokesman yesterday said these had been installed in new houses and small business where there were new connections, or as replacements for faulty analogue meters.

Some had been installed to allow solar power to be carried on the electricity grid.

“These installations are not part of the state government-mandated advanced metering infrastructure program,’’ the spokesman said.

Installations as part of that program will begin late next year in the North East, as part of a statewide program that will take in all houses and small businesses by the end of 2013.

Suppliers have already installed about 900,000 smart meters across the state.

Although some consumer groups have warned they will cost customers more, the government insists they allow people to make choices about how much energy they use by providing accurate real-time information.

Unlike the old metering technology, smart meters are two-way, digital communication systems that record electricity usage every 30 minutes and can automatically send this data to the electricity suppliers.

This will virtually bring an end to estimated quarterly bills and manual meter readings.