The Best Water AMI Strategies

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Kory Simmons
5 years ago
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1 The Best Water AMI Strategies Carolyn Kinsman Automated Communication Links Inc.

2 Is it AMR or AMI What makes a water utility decide? What are your utility counterparts deploying? How big are the utilities in the benchmark study? History of the water business.. AMI Fixed Networks AMR - Mobile Meter Reading

3 History of the Water Utility Rate at which rates are increasing Water and sewer rates for next 5 years Repair, renew and build distribution infrastructure Under registration of water meters Trending of meter changeouts and estimated losses Number of no go meters Ability and frequency of meter maintenance/field visits Process and policy for validating accuracy of large meter population Environmental Interbasin water transfers/water reclamation requirements Doubling of meter population due to installation of irrigation meters Water Audit Estimations used for unaccounted for water studies Data sources used for audit process Conservation Initiatives Reasons for programs Ability to track success and ongoing compliance

4 Associated Political Climate Regional Smart Meter Initiatives for Electric? Pressure to deploy and be part of a joint AMI system Labor Issues Cost of Service and Accountability

5 AMI One way with hourly reads downloaded four times per day? On site reconfiguration vs. Two way listen for reconfiguration request from AMI headend computer

6 What you want and What is Reality Battery Life What we know and can prove has longevity and What we can t

7 2-Way Is New History of success Value and necessity of remote reconfiguration Assurance of Battery Life Two year (at best) history Meter timed for listen mode Risk of Battery Life Method for tracking and invalidation of meter warranty

8 Pick Your Meter Frequency of reads Resolution of the register Battery Life

9 Pick your System Environment Pit or basement Topography of service territory Customer density Infrastructure availability Impact on Battery Life

10 Pick the Infrastructure Locations for the Collectors Cost to Lease Skill Sets to Operate and Maintain History in the field

11 Bells and Whistles Conservation Programs Time of Day usage monitoring Leak Detection customer side of the meter Leak Detection Distribution System Customer Web Access to Usage Information

Access to Historical Data Customer Care Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Usage Across Selectable Time Period Weekend and Weekday Usage Single Customer or Select Group of Customers Bar Chart as well as

12 Access to Historical Data Customer Care Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Usage Across Selectable Time Period Weekend and Weekday Usage Single Customer or Select Group of Customers Bar Chart as well as table of supporting data Flow Lines (min, max, avg). Minimum Flow Line is same as leak line Export to Excel or Adobe Acrobat Usage & Variance Analysis Screen Schedule Reports to Run at Specified Times

13 Helping Customers Make Decisions that Benefit Themselves as well as the Utility

14 Example Of Customer Web-Data Customer Web access On-line customer information Consumption review Bill payment Access using account number and meter number 14

15 Detailed Monthly & Daily Consumption Data CSRs can now act as help desk to customer

Example of Customer Service Improvement The example below shows that a customers usage changed dramatically on the 21 st. The utility contacted the customer on the 29 th.

16 Example of Customer Service Improvement The example below shows that a customers usage changed dramatically on the 21 st. The utility contacted the customer on the 29 th. In this case, the customer called back and explained they found a leaking toilet in a vacant apartment, they had it corrected on the 2 nd and consumption returned to normal With this level of information a CSR will now be able to assist customers with better information to handle their queries

17 Web Presentment Adding Value for Your Customers

MDM and Itron s SaveSource Solution. Brian Fiut, Sr. Product Mgr.

MDM and Itron s SaveSource Solution Brian Fiut, Sr. Product Mgr. Agenda What is Meter Data Management? Meter Data Types Consumption vs. Interval Data SaveSource Architecture Overview Specific Applications