Pictured is a smart meter.

Jittery Fredonia residents socked Mayor Michael Ferguson with phone calls recently about strange people going door-to-door. Turns out it was just National Grid.

Ferguson told a village Board of Trustees meeting that the electric utility has employees going around in relation to its ongoing smart meters conversion. National Grid is converting meters across upstate New York to ones that can be checked remotely.

“In this day and age, I’ve probably gotten 10 calls today (from) people in a panic,” Ferguson said. “Even though the National Grid employees had proper identification, I can still understand, not too many people come door to door anymore.”

The mayor added, “I’m going to reach out to the local National Grid group and ask if they could at least give us a heads up on which neighborhoods they’re going to be in at what dates, so that we can post that on our social media as well, to better let people understand what’s happening.”

National Grid spokesman David Bertola told the OBSERVER, “As we begin to install meters across Western New York, customers may be visited by a National Grid crew, or a crew from our vendor, Utility Partners of America.

UPA is a national company that executes large-scale installation projects, meter reading, and other energy industry-related services.”

Bertola said, “National Grid and UPA staff wear identification badges that include their headshots and names. They travel in vehicles that include the companies’ logos and typically knock on front doors or ring doorbells and identify themselves as being from either company to install the meter. Installation takes a few minutes.”

The spokesman added that mass mailings have gone out to local utility customers to let them know of the upcoming conversions.

Bertola cautioned, “If a customer is wary of who is visiting their home, ask for identification. And if someone is requesting entry into your home or place of business and does not show an ID card, don’t let that person inside.”

Police Chief David Price asked residents to call his department or 911 if they are concerned about unidentified people going door-to-door, and not Ferguson.

“Not the mayor — call the police,” Price emphasized. “We will handle it, we will find out if there is a problem and we will address it…We have had people who solicit without permits, and we do have a law that does not allow that to happen, and we can do something about it if need be.”

Ferguson mentioned that a “legitimate company” had police called on its workers a couple weeks ago, because they didn’t have proper permits.

Price stated, “There are some people who should not walk in our neighborhoods door to door, based on their history and their past.”

Bertola said the smart meters are going in because “Current metering technology is reaching the end of its useful life. We are taking the next step by installing feature-rich equipment that will provide more and greater benefits for our customers. The meters have the potential to reduce the cost of operating the grid and will allow customers to have more information at their fingertips as they manage their monthly energy bills.”

More than 900,000 of the meters have already been installed across the state, Bertola said.