Frequently Asked Questions

As a municipal utility, GEUS is a public power provider. Greenville’s homes and businesses run on electricity provided by a not-for-profit, citizen-owned utility.

Any member of the public may address the Board under Citizens to Be Heard on any non-agenda items or under Public Testimony on any agenda item at any scheduled GEUS Board of Trustees meeting.  Contact the GEUS Executive Assistant at 903-457-2811 for specific questions regarding placing an item on an agenda.

Applications to serve on the GEUS Board of Trustees can be completed online by the following link.

GEUS Board of Trustees Application

Board Members may serve two three year consecutive terms.

GEUS’ advanced metering utilizes the airways to capture meter readings daily instead of manually reading meters once each month.  

GEUS’ advanced metering grid uses a community-wide network which includes communications towers similar to cell phone networks. 

Advanced metering eliminates the need for GEUS employees to access your yard monthly and this metering provides customers much more information such as daily reads.

Advanced metering eliminates human error and lowers the chance of billing errors. 

Approximately 75% of America’s meters are now being read through some form of advanced metering.  This is not new technology, but instead well-established proven technology.

GEUS will soon begin offering you a customer portal to review your daily usage.

The cost of reading meters is billed to customers through rates.  In the past GEUS employed Meter Readers to obtain meter readings monthly.  GEUS’ advanced metering will be capturing readings daily.

Trained employees will remove your current meter and install the new meter.

A GEUS employee or a GEUS Contractor will install your advanced meter. 

There will be a short interruption of power usually less than five minutes.

You will see no difference in the service you receive.

Please call 903-457-2800 should you have any questions.

www.geus.org

Advanced Meter Project | Greenville Electric Utility System, TX (geus.org)

The new meter will be just as accurate as your current meter but will communicate your readings automatically to GEUS daily.

A door tag will be left on your door when the meter exchange occurs.

Your bill will look the same.

Meters simply capture the reading of how much a home or business has consumed.  GEUS Advanced Metering will simply capture readings through automation rather than a human manually reading the meter.

Automated meters are very accurate.

You will have access through a private portal. GEUS and GEUS’ Authorized Payment Processers will access your information only to bill and receive payments.

Some of the employees will be trained to maintain GEUS’ Advanced Metering communication network and others will transition to other jobs at GEUS.

Yes, Customers can select what type of alerts they wish to receive and when to receive those alerts. GEUS recommends that these alerts not be scheduled before 7:00 am in order to receive the most up-to-date information.

Once-daily account information is uploaded. This occurs at approximately 7:00 am.

Disconnects will occur once daily. Payments must be made no later than 1:30pm daily to avoid disconnection.

SmartPay Customers will no longer use the card system. SmartPay offers options like payments online, using an app, pay by phone, in person, or at remote locations. Visit our SmartPay Prepaid Electric Service page on GEUS.org for detailed payment information.

Prepaid Electric Service | Greenville Electric Utility System, TX (geus.org)

A Hot Socket occurs when the electrical connections inside a meter base exceed established standards of 90 °C. GEUS meters are set to trip at 110°C.

The new advanced meters continually monitor temperature and will alarm or trip if temperatures are over the limit.

High temperature conditions are typically caused by compromised electrical connections which can be caused by loose wires, loose meter jaws, or comprised connection due to a previous high temperature event.

The high temperature is occurring inside the meter base regardless of the meter type. The new advanced meter detects this condition and opens the meter, disconnecting service while the old meters did not have the ability to detect and isolate dangerous conditions such as elevated temperature.

There is no charge for the first disconnect and reconnect during business hours. Additional disconnects may incur additional charges. GEUS recommends replacement of all current carrying parts and advises to have parts on hand before power is disconnected.

Only GEUS staff can cut meter seals. We recommend having materials on hand during the scheduled disconnect. Call 903-457-2800 to schedule a disconnect.

Yes. In the past before smart meters, the high temperature would go undetected and destroy the meter base causing blackouts/ brownouts before the customer realized something was wrong. The customer would typically be without power for a while until an electrician could repair the damage.

The following may require additional work:

• Low overhead conductors
• Service conductors (before main breaker) inside structure 
• Nonservice wires passing through meter base
• Inadequate electrical installation (degraded or never installed correctly)

 While GEUS recommends installing an external electrical disconnect, it will not be required if it was not required when service was installed and no major upgrades are being done.

While tightening the wire could help in some cases, the presence of a hot socket alarm may indicate irreversible damage. GEUS recommends replacing all current carrying parts. While there are no charges for the initial disconnect for hot socket repair, subsequent GEUS disconnects may result in charges to recover disconnect costs.

While clips may help in some cases, in many cases the high temperature has caused aluminum lugs to expand stretching screws and causing irreversible damage. New internal parts that meet OEM specs may be able to be installed in existing enclosures.

We would be happy to review the test reports from a thermal run test or electrical integrity test. Please see details below. We reserve the right to verify results with our own testing. Our experience has shown that the meter accurately reports a high temperature event. Please keep in mind that the temperature may have to get well above the trip threshold to cause damage (such as discoloration, pitting and melted plastic) and the meter has prevented the problem from getting to this stage.

 The following tests may be used to verify meter socket integrity 

• Option 1 Thermal run test (GEUS must be present for test conducted in place) with full load for 15 minimum of minutes (electrical heat strips and all appliances running). A thermal camera verify temperature in meter socket is less than 90°C and no single connection is significantly hotter than the other connections.
•  Option 2 electrical integrity test. For up to 100 amp load. (Must be conducted on a deenergized socket unless GEUS present)

 Electrical integrity test must pass all of the following:

• No visible sign of compromised connections ( melted plastic, pitting, discoloration…)
• Jaw tension greater than 8 lbs for blade removal (prefer 10 lbs)
• DLRO between meter blade and wire less than 300 micro ohms
• DLRO readings are within 50% of each other
• Each of the following must be below 200 micro ohms
• Meter blade and jaw
• meter jaw and lug 
• Lug and conductor

The following meter base has a compromised electrical connection on one of the 4 jaws can you guess which one?

Figure 1 compromised meter base

These are thermal images of the same meter base pictured above under load

Figure 2 Thermal image of top connections on compromised meter base.

Figure 3 Thermal image of bottom connections on compromised meter base.

The resistance between the lug and the jaw are:

Install Fusion Streaming TV on Amazon Firestick, please click here 

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Install Fusion Streaming TV on Android device, please click here 

Visit tv.geus.org to watch on your computer.

Yes, you can record most of your favorite shows on your own cloud DVR. Schedule future episodes and reruns to record automatically, or enjoy a large collection of programming and movies available on demand.

Traditional cable is being phased out all over the country.  Why wait for those services to end when you can experience all the benefits of streaming TV today!  No finicky cable boxes, no missing your favorite shows, the ability to watch on multiple devices, and custom profiles for each member of your family, plus so much more!

We’d love it if you came by our Customer Service Center for a live demo of GEUS Fusion Streaming TV!

Our location is 2810 Wesley St., Greenville, TX 75401.  You are welcome during any of our normal business hours.

There are no contract commitments with GEUS FUSION Streaming TV. You may discontinue service anytime by contacting us.

Some content is viewable outside of your home, but most channels will require you to be connected with GEUS Internet to work.  So, you can take your TV watching anywhere your home WiFi will reach, even in the backyard!

Yes, you can manage and record shows directly through the GEUS FUSION Streaming TV app.

Each account comes with 3 concurrent streams. Additional streams can be added for a low monthly cost.   There is no limit to how many devices you can have the app set up on.

Each account includes 100 hours of DVR storage, with the option of purchasing additional hours if needed.

Yes, most channels will allow you to rewind live TV.

Try using the Start Over feature. On many shows, when you turn to a show that is currently airing, you’ll see the Start Over/ Catch Up icon and an on-screen tip telling you to press and hold OK/SELECT to start the show from the beginning.

GEUS is always seeking ways to reduce system costs, provide the lowest possible cost energy for its customers and to improve services. This project would lower system costs and provide GEUS with the capability to offer locally produced renewable energy to its customers.

This project will effectively lower GEUS peak system load. The facilities will be interconnected to the GEUS distribution system lowering GEUS’ transmission and energy load. GEUS is a member of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which transmits power to 85% of Texans.  GEUS pays a share of the costs of the entire transmission system in ERCOT based on the maximum amount of electrical load GEUS places on the transmission system.  Additionally, GEUS is required to pay a share of reliability services based on its peak load. In recent years, GEUS’s peak has been approximately 124 MW.  This additional 10 MW produced by the solar facilities within the GEUS territory will immediately lower the GEUS peak and continue to lower it over the next 25 years.  So it will lower system costs and provide a hedge against expected increases in system costs in future years.

Where does the power go?  The 10 MW of power stays right here inside GEUS territory, benefiting all GEUS customers. Since these facilities would be connected to GEUS’ distribution system, all of the energy produced is owned by GEUS.

SunGrid won a competitive solicitation Request For Proposal (RFP) process to provide this service. 

SunGrid Power is a Texas-based solar developer, owner and operator of solar facilities within Hunt County, Texas.  They will invest $20+M locally in this project and expect to pay up to $200,000 in initial annual taxes, totaling over $4M over the project's duration.   Taxing entities that will benefit are Hunt County, Hunt Regional, Greenville ISD, and the City of Greenville.   SunGrid is not seeking any tax breaks.   Two of the properties aren’t currently on the tax rolls, and the other two will generate substantially more tax revenue with solar facilities than they do now.

There would be four facilities strategically located across Greenville.  Their approximate sizes will range from 5 to 24 acres each. 

Why not have one large facility instead of these four smaller ones scattered around Greenville?  This is intentional to balance the power intake onto multiple existing GEUS power lines and substations.   

SunGrid uses no-glare panels.  They are designed to absorb sunlight and not reflect it.  All four sites have already received clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Each site has been designed to be positioned away from main streets and/or to include vegetation screening to obscure visibility of the solar facility. They are at least a ¼ mile from residential structures and/or include treed screening to obscure their view from afar.

Each site has factors that could limit or prevent future development, such as pipelines, rights-of-way, or its location in the floodplain.

SunGrid has an Operations Team based in Wieland, TX.   These crews would service these facilities as well as the three similar facilities they operate locally for the Farmers Electric Cooperative (FEC).

SunGrid uses the most hail-resistant solar panels available on the market.  The panels are designed and warrantied to withstand a 2” hail ball with no damage to the solar panel.  SunGrid has approximately 20,000 solar panels installed at sites within 15 miles of Greenville, and over the past 3 years, only one (1) panel has shown any signs of hail damage. 

SunGrid uses poly-silicon panels that do not contain cadmium telluride or other metals found in thin film panels.  The primary material in the panels used by SunGrid is silicon(sand), which doesn’t present any environmental hazards.  Alarmists referring to environmental risks generally mean thin-film panels.

Texas Law HB 3228, Utilities Code Chapters 301 & 302, requires SunGrid to provide financial assurance, such as a bond or letter of credit, to cover decommissioning and site restoration costs.

GEUS has the option to purchase the facilities after 7 and 10 years, respectively.   Future GEUS Boards will make that decision. 

Tilt-based panels capture more of the day’s sunshine than roof-mounted panels, thus creating more electricity.  Most buildings were not designed to hold the infrastructure of tilt-based panels.  And businesses don’t want solar maintenance workers on the roofs.  The cost of building parking lot coverings to then mount tilt-based panels on would not be economically feasible.

No.

Yes.   Solar facilities are individually designed for the property for which they are located, including the severity of the floodplain.  

Snow can temporarily halt production, depending on the current angle of the tilt-based panels during snowfall.  At some point, the tilt gains angle and snow clears. 

All four sites are required to house the facilities necessary to produce 10MW of energy, the optimal scale for the GEUS system.

Yes.  In today’s energy market, it is critical to have a mix of renewable and fossil fuel generation sources.  This 10 MW of solar adds to the current energy we receive from solar and wind purchase power agreements.  GEUS will receive all the associated Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) produced by the facilities.

Yes, it could, or at least part of it.  GEUS currently contracts solar out of West Texas.   This puts a solar source much closer to home without transmission costs.

GBOD and L3 Harris will continue to own their land, and one solar facility is proposed for land, which would be owned by SunGrid. 

SunGrid will own all solar facility infrastructure, with GEUS having the option to purchase it at 7 and 10 years. 

SunGrid will manage the vegetation.

We have placed pins on Google Maps for each location.  We encourage the public to visit sites for a better understanding, but warn that some roads are unpaved and may be muddy or difficult to access. 

Google Map Locations: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pxc1BBVTUtDp4Cjd6

Summer 2026.

The Greenville Board of Development has some properties that are deemed neither ideal nor feasible for future development.  Yet these sites are acceptable for solar facilities.  L3 Harris has offered a site for solar facilities.  This site is owned by L3 Harris and sits adjacent to the City of Greenville land that they lease.  This solar facility helps L3 Harris Greenville meet the company’s sustainability goals. 

No. Two of the proposed sites sit very near or on the flight path of the Greenville airport.  L3 Harris is aware and participating in one of the four sites. 

GEUS is the oldest municipally owned electric provider in Texas and has been generating power locally and serving the Greenville community for 135 years.