[1st-mile-nm] Broadband Energy Management

[Richard Lowenberg]

A lengthy article on networked meter reading and energy management.   rl
------

Utility Meter Reading Networks Save Money and Improve Customer Service

By Bradley Kramer ? Aug 01, 2008

www.lastmileonline.com/index/webapp-stories-action?id=302

These hardscrabble economic times have everyone scrounging beneath their sofa
cushions for those hidden dimes.

We?re all looking for ways to save money, and the cost of doing business has
become a primary challenge for any business entity to factor into its expenses.
Any tool that can help save money, alleviate costs and improve revenues is
welcome.

Enter your light switch, faucet and furnace.

Nearly every household and business in the United States is dependent on utility
services such as electricity, water and gas. The companies that supply those
services ? whether publicly or privately owned ? are dependent on customers
paying their bills for revenue. The customers, in turn, depend on those bills to
be accurate and, to some extent, predictable.

If utility bills are inaccurate or otherwise faulty, the customer or the utility
provider loses money.
Utility information systems, such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and
automated meter reading (AMR), supported by broadband networking have become
valuable applications for utility companies, which have become a vibrant market
for broadband deployment. AMI and AMR systems help utility companies improve
operational efficiency, as well as billing accuracy and efficiency.

In addition to billing, utility information systems improve customer relations.
Many utility companies rely on customers to report service outages, which can
lead to sub-optimal response times. An automated system can provide the central
office with real-time status on utility usage and detects outages and other
problems so repairs can be made quickly.

Systems that go beyond providing just metering information are also called
?smart grid? systems. However, all three terms are sometimes used
interchangeably.

?It?s All About the Network?

Utility information systems at the most basic level can get by with a small
radio transmission or power line network, but a broadband network ? wired or
wireless ? is necessary if a utility company wants those advanced
applications for whole system monitoring, says Pete Harbin, vice president of
sales and marketing for Carina Technology, a hardware and software company
based in Huntsville, Ala., that specializes in utility information systems.

Deploying an AMI, AMR or smart grid system on a broadband network may cost more
upfront, but Harbin says it?s worth it. ?You?re future-proofing your
system because you have so much bandwidth and you can do a lot more with the
information, so you?re not as limited.?

If you don?t put money into a network, at some point it will be saturated and
the communications pipe won?t be big enough to do real-time price and
monitoring. Investing in a high-quality and high-capacity network also allows
for more versatility. That network can be used for other applications, such as
facility security or public access, which can enhance the business case for the
overall system.

However, a utility company does not necessarily have to own and operate a
broadband network to deploy a utility information system, Harbin says. AMI, AMR
and smart grid systems also can be deployed over a private Internet service
provider network, as long as it?s a dependable network. ?It?s all about
the network,? he says.

Investing in a utility information system that requires a broadband network can
be a difficult decision for a utility provider. Many companies justify the cost
of the system with the meter reading capabilities, but Harbin says that metering
is a relatively low cost application.

?The meter read is only 50 cents a month so it?s hard to justify the
payback,? he says, but if you start adding more applications to the system,
such as real-time monitoring, pre-paid capabilities and usage management, the
return on investment starts to become clearer.

?The most important thing is demand site management, because being able to
shift loads and move loads off peak will make the business case,? Harbin
says. ?You get the fringe benefits of being able to look at your system all
the time.?

The additional utility monitoring and ability to shift usage loads during peak
hours allows the utility company to be more efficient with its services.

?Generating capacity is limited everywhere in the country right now,? Harbin
says. ?You have to build new power plants or you?re going to have brown-outs
and blackouts.?

However, energy efficiency abilities like demand site management can be a
short-term alternative to building new power plants until the utility company
can afford the cost.

The market for utility information systems is strong, Harbin says. Energy costs
and the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which requires utility companies to provide
customers with additional information about their bills, is helping drive the
market.

?Our customers want information right now,? he says. ?They want to look at
what they?re using. We spoiled all the customers with real-time
information.? Harbin adds that utility customers don?t want to be surprised
by their bill, and utility information systems help keep them and the utility
companies informed.

Automated in Anderson

Early this year, Anderson, Ind., deployed an AMR system for the city-owned
Municipal Light and Power Utility to monitor water and electricity usage, which
the city hoped would reduce the costs caused by the inaccuracies of manual meter
reading and improve overall customer satisfaction.

The utility communications company Aclara provided the AMR components, which are
supported by a wireless network using Tropos Networks equipment and backhauled
to Anderson?s fiber-optic network, providing access to the central office?s
back end system.

?We decided to implement a wireless AMR solution to eliminate the inaccuracies
and lost costs of manual meter reading,? says Darren Grile, network
administrator for Anderson Municipal Power and Light.
The system has improved meter reading and billing accuracy and immediately
detects electric outages, pinpointing affected areas and facilitating a more
efficient restoration of service.

?When there?s a problem, the dispatcher can see at a glance which customers
are affected,? Grile says. ?This helps us determine the root cause.?

Anderson decided to automate its electric and water meter reading system three
years ago to solve problems of manual meter reads. Customers were enduring the
inaccuracies of estimated billing when inclement weather, pets or locked gates
prevented meter readers from getting access to meters. In one month, 15 percent
of the utility bills were estimated rather than actual. Some customers were
unpleasantly surprised when the corrected bill arrived ? and complained to
the mayor and city council.

?Anderson?s decision to automate utility meter reading provides great value
to the city and customers,? says Tom Ayers, president and CEO of Tropos.
?It?s a powerful example to other cities grappling with significant utility
operating issues related to resource conservation, expense control and meter
reading accuracy.?
The state of Indiana enabled the funding for automated water and electrical
meters and for the network to link them together as a way to support municipal
utility conservation.

Reading the Cost

Depending on the volume of services, deploying a utility information system can
cost between $120 to $195 per unit, Harbin says. Carina makes a collar
component for utility meters that transmits data for demand site management,
prepaid utilities, outage management and other real-time service metrics.

Some states, like Indiana did for Anderson, provide funding assistance to
improve municipal utility services. The federal government has also made
funding available for utility companies in rural communities to deploy public
access networks under the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utility Service
(RUS) division.

The RUS also provides technical guidance to qualified utilities. The Rural
Development Broadband Access loan program was authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill
and provides low interest loans to deploy broadband services to communities
with a population of 20,000 or less, with first priority going to communities
without broadband service. Eligible service providers can receive these loans,
provided that they employ RUS-approved products.

Bradley Kramer is associate editor of Last Mile. Contact him at
bkramer at benjaminmedia.com

---------------------------------
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com


----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.