1. Automatic Meter Reading Technologies and Strategies Howard A. Scott, Ph.D. COGNYST CONSULTING, L.L.C. Technology and Customer Service for the Utility Industry AMR Training, February 1, 2005

2. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved.Introduction Introductions Agenda Expectations Ground rules Contact Information Howard A. Scott, Ph.D. Managing Partner Cognyst Consulting, L.L.C. 973-696-5793 hscott@cognyst.com

3. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Why Believe a Guy From the U.S.? My focus is on worldwide projects and trends I am here to talk technology, not politics I know a little something about this subject Because of my position in the industry, I get to hear and influence people that others can’t reach

4. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Would Lessons from U.S. Work Here? Your challenge is to: –Identify key business needs –Ensure that your approach also serves the operational needs of the utility Mostly Yes –Remote Metering Technologies Require Similar Efforts –AMR, Prepayment & Submetering primarily differ in technology –The greatest challenges are usually related to people and their needs

5. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved.Agenda Introduction to Metering What is Advanced Metering? Terminology What Drives Utilities to Deploy Advanced Metering? Advanced Metering Technologies AMR Worldwide Statistics

6. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Introduction to Metering What is a meter? Why use a meter? How does it work? What does a meter record? Electric Power Terminology

7. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. What is a Meter? “Meter” – from Greek word “metron” – measure Many different meters –Distance (39.37 inches) –Weight (e.g., postage meter) –Rhythm (cadence or beat in music, poetry) –For this conference – a device to measure: The amount of energy consumed Volume of water or gas consumed

8. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Why Use a Meter? Revenue Billing Time-of-use metering Real-time pricing Load aggregation Energy use diagnostics Power Quality Emergency Response Planning and reporting

9. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. How Does a Meter Work? Water or gas meter – –Usually, the flow of water or gas applies pressure against a rotating device; –Meter counts number of rotations; –Display shows these counts converted to express volume consumed

10. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. How Does an Electric Meter Work? The rotor suspended magnetically Current through wire coil induces magnetic torque on rotor The higher the power, the faster the disk rotates Display shows # rotations adjusted by conversion factor All digital meters just use a pickup coil Source: www.themeterguy.com

11. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. What Does a Meter Record? Water and gas meters: –Volume of water or gas flowing through meter Electric meters: –kWh –TOU –Load Profiles –Demands –Current and voltage per phase –Power factor –Errors –etc.

12. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Electric Power Terminology Kilowatt (kW – 1,000 Watts) – Power measurement or actual power available, e.g. 100 kW motor Kilowatt-hour (kWh) – Energy consumed over time measured by meter, e.g. 100 kW motor running for 3 hours uses 300 kWh Demand – Highest kW measured during billing period for a time interval (typically 15, 30 or 60 minutes) Kilovolt amperes (kVA) – Apparent power available

13. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. More Electric Power Terminology kVAR – Reactive power (non-working power) lost by reactive properties of equipment [ (kVA) 2 =(kW) 2 +(kVAR) 2 ] Power Factor – ratio of kW to kVA Load Profile – A drawing showing kWh usage over time KYZ – 3 wire pulse output from a metering device to drive external control or recording equipment (re: Handbook for Electricity Metering)

14. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Meter Components Mounting Measuring element Circuit board (logic and storage) (optional) Display register Communication interface (optional) Meter case

15. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. What is Advanced Metering? Many different definitions Usually viewed as the integration of communication into basic metering platform Can be one-way or two-way Permits much more data to be collected than traditional manual reads

16. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Some Re-Definitions Advanced Metering (AM) – automating the metering process to include any or all of AMR, Prepayment, Submetering, Outage Management, Revenue Protection, and Active Load Control –AMR – automatic meter reading at a distance from the meter –Prepayment – paying for a product before it is consumed The integration of these services is already underway

17. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. What is a Submeter? Reads consumption by one tenant Often sits behind a bulk meter that records consumption on entire site Is used to allocate charges to tenants that consume the resource

18. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Advanced Metering Applications Monthly meter reading – total consumption Off-cycle meter reading – total consumption Monthly kW demand read Static time of use (e.g., peak, off-peak, shoulder) Real-time pricing (passive load control) Curtailment or interruptible service Theft and tampering Power quality monitoring Outage detection

19. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved.Terminology 1-way, 1½ way, 2-way –Any link can be 1-way or 2-way Inbound versus outbound (which end initiates the transaction) Carrier versus architecture versus protocol System characterized by “last hop” Meter: pulse initiator, dial-position encoder, digital signal processor Gateway Transmit only, data storage, processing AMR related to prepay, outage management

20. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Applications AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) Hard disconnect Active load control Prepay metering Outage management Submetering

21. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Advanced Metering Drivers Poor access to meters – on-cycle, off-cycle Problems associated with estimates (customer service, adjustments) Revenue protection, theft of service Poor working conditions, safety, high turnover for meter readers Expense of manual reading Conservation Aging population of meters Growth in system Deregulation, privatisation Competitive services

22. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. For Most Utilities, Advanced Metering Is A High Impact Project Large capital and human resources investment Changes the way you do business Changes relationship with customers Impacts a relatively large number of jobs Reliance on telecommunications technology Eliminates regular physical contact with meters Alternatives (remotes, MR productivity, etc.) dilute AMR business case Full-scale AMR is not appropriate for every utility. There are some meters at virtually every utility for which AMR is appropriate.

23. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Revenue Protection/Energy Theft Is a Major Problem Worldwide Some utilities’ losses >20% Can prevent utility from operating profitably Safety and risk to public (electrocutions, fires) Liability issues for utilities Critical when supply is limited Not always indigent that steal power Cultural and economic aberrations (economics of theft “business”)

24. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Examples of Electric Power Theft South AmericaAfrica

25. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved.Technology

26. Don’t Just Focus on the Technology!!! Most engineers get excited about technology –A rare opportunity to use their education It’s not brain surgery; anyone can do it!!! The real benefits are: –Having reliable usage data –Using that data to reduce losses –Improving efficiency –Providing better service to your customers Boring stuff, but the purpose of your business

27. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Communication Technologies Power Line Communications Radio Telephone Cellular (GSM, CDMA, GPRS, etc.) Cable Pager, Satellite Internet Other Broadband Mixed, hybrid

28. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. How do Utility Meters, Submeters Differ? Submeter ANSI meter IEC meter Prepay meter

29. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Advanced Metering Sys. Components Measuring Device TIU Com Link 1 Com Link 2 Hardware Application Software Database CIS/Billing Host Controller “LAN” “WAN” Receiver Encoder Transponder MIU Data Coll. Unit Other Apps. Meter Interface Unit Local Area Network, Wide Area Network Data Collection Unit, Data Concentrator

30. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Power Line Communications (PLC) Systems 123456 Data Collec- tor Concen- trator 123456 Substation Billing System Host Controller Data- base Trans- former Meter Interface Unit Zero-crossing Carrier Broadband

31. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Radio Frequency Systems Mobile and fixed systems Specialty options: phone, paging, digital data loggers

32. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Some Radio Frequency Considerations Frequency, band Bandwidth Low-power, unlicensed versus higher-power licensed Power, duration and interval between signals Packet switching protocol, network architecture Noise rejection techniques (e.g., spread spectrum Interference, attenuation, fading Antennae Power supply (collectors, gas and water MIUs)

33. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Telephone Systems Can Be Outbound or Inbound 123456 Signal Injector Telco Switch Billing System Host Controller Data- base Network Interface Device Meter Interface Unit RJ Inbound: Read Initiated Here Outbound: Read Initiated Here

34. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Pre-Pay Metering Systems 123456 Con- troller ATM, Kiosk, Vendors Utility Customer Interface (display, card reader or keypad) MIU 123456 Bank Clearing- house Data- base Card Recpt. Data- base TOKEN

35. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. AMR Worldwide Statistics

36. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. USA Has Greatest Number of AMR Devices, Followed by Italy and China 81.5 Million Installed as of 1/04

37. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. RF Systems Dominate USA, But PLC Systems Most Common Elsewhere 81.5 Million Installed as of 1/0420.3 Million Installed as of 1/04 Excluding North America

38. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Total AMR Shipments by Vendor 81.5 Million Installed as of 1/04

39. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Advanced Metering Technologies Will Eventually Merge Some new projects need multiple application features Vendors will be unwilling to maintain parallel manufacturing lines with similar capabilities Utilities will want flexibility in providing services to customers Software vendors will offer applications that can flexibly serve different applications

40. Copyright  2005 by, Pequannock, NJ 07440. All rights reserved. Summary Described metering and gave several basic definitions Introduced Advanced Metering (AM) and related it to AMR, prepay metering, etc. Discussed drivers for AM and the impact of such projects on the utility Addressed the technical components of AM systems and gave examples of communication technologies that are used Presented statistics on the extent that AM is used worldwide Briefly discussed the future direction of AM