REGINA -- SaskPower is asking for 2,000 of its customers to volunteer for early installation of smart meters.

The Crown corporation says the meters will be installed this year.

“We’re thrilled to offer our customers the chance to realize the benefits of smart meters this year,” Shawn Schmidt, SaskPower Vice-President of Distribution and Customer Services, said in a news release. “As the province moves to a smart grid we’ll be able to find and fix outages faster, and customers will no longer receive estimated bills.”

According to the Crown, the meters will allow customers to be billed for the exact amount of power they use each month. They will also offer information about power use, and homeowners won't need meter reading on their property.

Smart meters are free to customers.

Anyone interested can sign up at saskpower.com/smartsignup.

SaskPower installed 8,000 commercial smart meters since 2017 across Saskatchewan. The Crown hopes to have 30,000 province-wide by the end of the year.