Energy Information and Control History

Utility industries (gas, electric, water) continue to seek solutions to the high cost and labor intensive activity associated with meter reading. Over the years, meter reading technology has advanced to include walk-by and drive-by (mobile) wireless systems, power line carrier (PLC) and more recently fixed wireless systems.

These offerings suffer from the problems of high expense, slow or infrequent data reporting, and the inability to control energy consuming devices for cost reduction purposes. While the information may be available for monthly billing it is dated. The key issue is that the information gathered cannot be acted on in a timely manner for energy conservation or cost reduction purposes.

What is Advanced AMR?

Advanced Automated Meter Reading (AMR) solves the problem of slow or outdated meter reading data and provides an architecture that allows energy consuming devices such as irrigation pumps, to be managed and controlled from a single system to reduce energy usage. Advanced AMR provides real-time energy information and control capabilities from the same system that delivers AMR and it does this less expensively than any AMR technology on the market today.

With real-time energy information and control communicated wirelessly and presented on the web, the following now becomes viable:

• AMR without the infrastructure cost of alternative AMR
• Demand response programs are easily deployed
• Load control for energy savings is possible for customer, utility and/or energy management company
• Online-load profiling information provides a more proactive method of reducing energy costs and gain feedback on impact of energy usage affecting energy costs
• Energy monitoring and control can improve utility network management
• Immediately know when and what particular meters are affected by outage and at what time power restored for enhanced customer service and maintenance

The Energy Management Future

With the escalating rise in energy costs, utilities and their customers are increasingly looking for ways to minimize their costs, whether it be in generating and distributing energy more cost effectively or in minimizing their consumption of energy when it is most expensive to consume.

Advanced AMR provides a single solution which offers multiple means of monitoring, measuring, managing, and controlling energy usage. A solution that can be implemented cost effectively and provides significantly higher service levels than alternative AMR systems.