Massachusetts — April 17, 2026 — Utility Partners of America (UPA) reached a major milestone in its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployment for National Grid Massachusetts, completing 500,000 residential electric meter installations statewide. This achievement represents more than 35 percent of the total deployment.
UPA is responsible for the large-scale deployment of residential electric meters across Massachusetts, utilizing trained installation teams and prioritizing safety. Installations began on February 10, 2025, and the 500,000th meter was installed on April 17, 2026, at 1:50pm ET. After an initial delay, UPA and National Grid collaborated to recover the schedule and realign the deployment with the original plan.
“UPA’s team is committed to efficient, safe, high-quality installations and brings that focus to work every day in pursuit of shared goals with National Grid,” said Ashli Yearwood, project manager. “It is encouraging to see two organizations collaborate so closely toward a common objective.”
UPA is focusing on completing installations town by town, a strategy that supports improved meter connectivity and enables customers to more quickly benefit from AMI technology, including more reliable meter reads, improved billing accuracy, and real-time energy usage information.
Increased meter saturation enhances system visibility and data quality, enabling faster outage detection and restoration, stronger grid resiliency, and more reliable service. This deployment supports National Grid’s efforts to modernize its energy infrastructure and advance its sustainability goals.
“One Team. One UPA. Small steps every day add up to big results,” said Chris Cotton, field operations manager. “We set the goals, trust the processes, and hit the numbers.”
The Massachusetts deployment presents logistical challenges due to geographic dispersion and the need to build out a mesh network to ensure meter connectivity. UPA has adapted dispatching and route-planning practices to support network performance and maintain efficient execution across the service territory. Reflecting on the collaboration behind this milestone, Katie Cowan, project support specialist, noted, “Great people all around. From the field to National Grid to project support to operational technology to the call center. Everyone has been giving it their all in progressing this project along.”
“We don’t just want to install meters. We want to stay,” said André Foster, CEO. “This project has shown what a long-term partnership looks like in practice.”
The project is on track to be completed by December 2027. “The strength of the team is each individual, and the strength of the individual is the team,” said Mike Scipio, Field Supervisor, highlighting the coordination required across crews, support teams, and partners to keep the deployment on schedule.
About Utility Partners of America
Utility Partners of America (UPA), a System One company, was founded in 1997 and is a leading provider of project management, construction management, operations, maintenance, and professional services for the utility industry. UPA partners with utilities and energy cooperatives across the United States to build, inspect, maintain, and upgrade critical utility infrastructure that supports safe, reliable, and resilient energy systems.
