SM 3.0 Metering Utilities Integration: Electric

In the past, the reading of electrical meters was performed on site by an individual viewing each meter and writing down the meter reading. This type of collection was tedious and time consuming requiring a large amount of man hours and several personnel to complete the task in a timely manner.
 
Technological advances in wireless communications, fiber optics, smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) enable this process to be streamlined and automated. Meter readings can be transmitted from the smart meter to the AMI server utilizing wireless or power line carrier communications systems. This process reduces man hours and provides better accuracy during the collection process.
 
This Smart Energy Source (SES) case study will focus on providing automated meter integration to an electrical utility. Topics covered will include meter reading, historical data storage and billing. Additional services such as asset management and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) will be evaluated as well.
 
This SES case study will not only evaluate the technologies involved in this process, but will also demonstrate the cost saving measures provided to the electric utility. Equipment cost being a major factor since the servers and communication equipment owned by the parent utility can be used to perform these functions for multiple electric utilities.