METERING, AMR & DATA MANAGEMENT

T1 Billing & Bill Payment 

T3 Customer Care & Business Operations 

T19 T&D Automation 

T38 Asset Management 

T44 Metering, AMR & Data Management 

T52 Generation Technologies 

T62 Mobile Workforce Management 

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METERING, 

AMR & DATA 

MANAGEMENT 

www.energycentral.com EnErgyBiz magazinE 51

T r a n s m mi sE Ts Ei or n i n& G , Dai sm Tr r i& b uD TaTa i o n ma au nT ao Gm EaT m Ei on nT 

The Latest On 

Metering 

WoRlDWIDE GRoWTh oN hoRIzoN 

By howard Scott 

To understand the metering industry, we must first 

understand what is happening around the world. Economic growth 

is a worldwide phenomenon, and we are all facing the challenges of 

that growth. The price of petroleum has risen dramatically as countries 

like China have begun to grow, driving the need for more local 

consumption of petroleum to operate factories, vehicles, power 

plants, and so forth. This growth is not limited to China; we’ve all 

heard about jobs being exported to countries like India, which is also 

consuming more petroleum. In fact, throughout the Third World, 

major cities like Sao Paulo, Brazil, Beijing, and Lagos, Nigeria, are 

experiencing phenomenal expansions. 

Increasingly, it is a mistake to label so many countries as Third 

World. Yes, Sao Paulo, the world’s second-largest city, has huge areas 

that are filled with incredibly poor people, but it also has a business 

district that is First World. The same can be said for Cape Town, South 

Africa, Shanghai, China, and countless other major cities in otherwise 

poor countries. In a recent pop song, the Colombian-based star 

Shakira referred to her country as Third World. Yet many major Colombian 

cities look no different from U.S. cities like Los Angeles or Atlanta. 

In many of these Third World cities even the water is safe to drink. 

The problems facing utilities worldwide are not much different from 

those facing utilities in the United States. Most readers would not be 

surprised to hear that electricity outages in Lagos, Nigeria can occur 

five to six times per day. Yet this summer, parts of New York City had 

power outages that lasted for a full week. Even in Lagos, outages rarely 

last that long. 

With so much growth and development worldwide, it is not 

surprising that the World Bank considers the development of electricity 

as a key indicator of an economy’s ability to develop. 

Clearly, as economic development spreads worldwide, we should 

expect to see metering technology developments from the United 

States appear in other countries. Less expected, but equally likely, is 

the opportunity to see international metering technologies begin to 

appear in the United States. 

With this background, we now take a look at the changing metering 

industry in North America. 

52 EnErgyBiz magazinE September/October 2006 

Approximately 20 years ago, AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) was 

introduced to automate the meter reading process. In those days, all 

meter reading was done by hand; even the collected readings were 

transposed by hand into computers. The process was fraught with 

transcription problems, and estimated readings were the industry 

norm. In those early days, the most widely used systems employed 

short-range RF, 300 – 500 feet from meter to collector. However, the 

first AMR systems actually used telephone and cable TV systems and 

were fixed-network technologies. 

In the years that followed, more automation was added to the 

process. Hand-held computers were used to support most manual 

systems, so even if the data was not automatically collected, it was 

only entered once into a computer. Meanwhile, more fixed-network 

systems were developed and deployed, and most of these systems 

supported robust data repositories to store all the collected data. 

In 2005, the term “AMI” (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) began 

to be widely used in the metering industry — and by 2006, any vendor 

with a fixed-network system was calling their technology “AMI.” There 

is little difference between AMI systems today and the fixed-network 

AMR systems of a few years ago. The critical difference is the new 

emphasis on storing large amounts of usage data and preparing that 

data for smart applications. 

This leads to the discussion of Smart Metering, a term that has 

been competing with AMI. The idea behind Smart Metering is to use 

the data in the meter databases to perform smart tasks in the utility. 

100% 

80% 

60% 

40% 

20% 

0% 

All Utilities 

Mobile 

Fixed 

Electric Utilities 

Mobile 

Fixed 

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Closely aligned with Smart Metering is the Smart Grid, the objective of 

which is to automate the operation of the electric grid. 

Today, AMI, Smart Metering and Smart Grid are all good ideas that 

are in their infancy from a deployment perspective. 

Overall, the trend is for more mobile than fixed systems, whereas 

for electric utilities the mobile/fixed market shares have remained the 

same for the past six years — approximately 50–50. 

We have run computer models that have looked at how future 

market trends (such as large fixed-network systems in California) would 

change this picture. The answer is driven by the fact that metering 

systems take years to deploy. A dramatic market shift in sales would 

take years to be seen in deployments. The current picture of mobileto-fixed 

deployments will not change dramatically for several years, 

even if there is a sharp market shift to fixed-network systems. 

A delay in the shift to fixed systems is supported by the painful 

fact that utilities will be loathe to discard metering systems before 

they have reached the end of their economic lives. Thus, every utility 

that selects a mobile system today is delaying its own move to Smart 

Metering by at least 10 years (maybe even more). The move to Smart 

Metering will come from new users of automatic metering (who never 

before deployed AMR) and from older systems that have reached the 

end of their economic lives. 

A slow, gradual market shift may be disappointing, but is in the best 

interest of the Smart Metering market. Today, there are few applications 

that are smart, and the industry needs to mature and develop 

a broad range of smart tools before it can expect the utility industry 

to use its products. Such smart tools will probably be most useful to 

electric utilities first, and thereafter to gas and water utilities. 

AMR Growth 

The overall industry grew steadily from 1998 through 2003, but 

slipped backward in 2004. That surprising change has been carefully 

studied, and the analysis ironically does not show a slip in the market. 

The drop can be attributed to a lull in large projects by large utilities 

(those with more than 500,000 customers). There are only 98 large 

electric, gas or water utilities in that market and about half have some 

form of AMR. In a market of only about 50 entrants, it is not surprising 

to see a gap between projects. The rest of the marketplace was active 

and growing. This conclusion is supported by the 2005 results — the 

market recovered to a level in line with historic trends. Note that the 

drop was primarily in electric and gas utilities, not in water utilities. 

Also note that the annual shipment level to the water industry is now 

above the level of the gas industry. 

The Future of Metering 

The sustained growth has attracted significant interest in the metering 

industry from investors. Most large metering companies worldwide 

are actively seeking new companies to acquire or developing a plan to 

Units Shipped 

(In Millions) 

14 

13 

12 

11 

10 

9 

8 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0 

Total Annual Shipments 

Electric 

Gas 

Water 

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 

be acquired, or both. Acquisition leads to aggregation, and the number 

of service providers will inevitably decrease. 

However, changes in metering technology are driving a movement to 

address local needs. The strong interest in Smart Metering is primarily 

coming from local geographic areas such as California and Ontario 

that have low AMR penetration. Despite all the hype, Smart Metering 

has not yet become the de facto standard for the industry. As a result, 

the new investment money that is coming into the metering industry 

is being legitimately cautious. They don’t want to bet the farm on the 

latest hot trend, but they don’t want to be left out either. 

Meanwhile, metering advances are also coming from other world 

markets. Much of the developing world is interested in prepayment 

metering, which has not yet received much attention in North America. 

If the metering industry aggregates to only a few large companies, 

they will each want to offer a worldwide metering product that will 

work in each of their markets. It is inevitable that some vendors will 

offer products that can be tailored to the needs of vastly different 

markets. Such an evolution automatically guarantees that advances 

in payment technologies for South America could impact offerings in 

North America, just as advances in Smart Metering in California could 

impact prepayment metering in Brazil. 

AMR and AMI will inevitably disappear as separate offerings and 

will instead be part of a broader set of services supported by more 

robust systems. It’s equally inevitable that the current debates over 

Smart Metering, AMI and AMR will only be of interest to historians as 

more robust systems emerge to meet worldwide market needs. 

Howard Scott publishes The Scott Report. 

www.energycentral.com EnErgyBiz magazinE 53 

T r a n s m mi sE Ts Ei or n i n& G , Dai sm Tr r i& b uD TaTa i o n ma au nT ao Gm EaT m Ei on nT


Trends in Data 

Management 

By Warren Causey 

Meter data management has been an esoteric pursuit, 

much anticipated during the deregulation push of the late 1990s. 

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, with its “encouragement” of AMI 

(Advanced Metering Infrastructure) is bringing more attention to a 

complex, data-intensive process. 

Utilities always have handled meter readings, in the past usually 

once per month. The readings were done by readers who tramped 

through front and back yards to peer at the dials on old analog meters 

with white faces and tiny dials. Such data was delivered to the billing 

department, and bills were computed and sent. It was a relatively 

simple, if fairly large-scale, process. 

The advent of automatic meters, however, changed a simple 

process into an extremely complex one involving literally billions 

of data points. And, wholesale energy trading and settlement and 

regional transmission organizations (RTOs) added more complexity. 

The difference is that automated meters can be read remotely, via 

various communications connections, including wireless and phone 

lines, resulting in the capability to read the meter in intervals, sometimes 

as brief as every 15 minutes. Thus, instead of a once-a-month 

meter reading, utilities now have to cope with potentially thousands 

of reads per month from one meter. 

There are basically two scenarios that are leading utilities to read 

meters more frequently. The first is that in some parts of the country 

public utility commissions are requiring time-of-use (TOU) rates so 

that meters have to be read at certain times of the day to calculate 

consumption and the rates charged. These TOU rates can be applied 

to commercial and industrial customers (more frequently) and to residential 

customers (less frequently, but a growing trend). Regardless, 

the utility is required to accumulate all of these data points, calculate 

variable rates and render correct bills. 


The second major scenario requiring meter data management is 

regional transmission organizations and wholesale energy markets. 

In this case, the transmission organization tracks and routes power 

used and “settles” the wholesale market. Market settlement is not 

done on the basis of what energy actually flows through the lines — as 

some people might naturally think — but on how much is used at the 

millions of meters involved. Utilities must collect the meter readings 

— whether via automated meters or manual reads — compile them, 

calculate the total amount of energy used and report that for settlement 

of the amount of money owed. This process is called aggregation. 

Then the wholesale market or RTO — it varies in different parts 

of the country — must recalculate and verify the utility submissions, 

again manipulating the compiled millions of reads to ensure every

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Meter data management is one of the most complex 

and data intensive computing challenges utilities face... 

participant in the market is fairly compensated. RTOs or independent 

system operators in California, the Midwest, the East and the Energy 

Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) are the major players in wholesale 

distribution in their regions. 

Aggregation is an extremely complex computing problem involving 

massive amounts of data. For example, in Texas the ERCOT processes 

between three and nine terabytes of data or more each day. The 

ERCOT does all of the settlement for the Texas market, including 

retail aggregation. Utilities provide meter readings to the ERCOT and 

the ERCOT calculates and settles the market. In reality, however, the 

ERCOT does not receive readings every 15 minutes from all 7 million 

retail customers in the Texas market. Instead, it receives interval reads 

from some 3,000 randomly chosen customers who have been agreed 

to by all the market participants as accurately reflecting the entire 

market. Then, the ERCOT uses a curve, or profile established by these 

3,000 customers, who do have interval meters, to apportion costs and 

revenues to the distributors and wholesalers. This is the settlement 

and resettlement that takes place several times a day. However, many 

of the individual utilities involved have interval-automated meters for 

substantial proportions of their customers to ensure that the profiles 

used by the ERCOT are accurate. 

In addition, individual participants in other markets nationwide — 

utilities, generating companies, independent power producers, energy 

marketers, and so forth — have to maintain and ensure the accuracy 

of their own aggregated meter data, not only for market participation 

but to ensure accuracy in billing. 

At the present time, only about 30 to 40 percent of the electric 

meters in the United States, and a smaller percentage of water and 

natural gas meters, are automated at the retail level. However, with 

the push for AMI at the federal level, growth of the AMR-installed 

base is expected to be fairly rapid over the next several years. 

Already many utilities have been signing up with AMR vendors for 

widespread installations. 

While there are a number of vendors that offer AMR products, there 

are relatively few that offer the extremely complex and robust software 

required to aggregate, store and calculate the massive numbers 

of reads involved. The largest of these probably is Lodestar Corp. of 

Peabody, Mass. Other major vendors include Itron in Spokane, Wash., 

and ESG in Pembroke, Mass. 

Lodestar’s Profile and Settlement System (LPSS) frequently is 

used by various retailers and utilities to ensure that the consumption 

and payment numbers they receive from the RTOs match their own 


meter-reading calculations. Lodestar’s system also is used to settle 

the ERCOT market. 

Most utilities, however, and several of the ISO/RTOs, use their own 

home-built software. That is the case at the PJM, which operates the 

largest competitive wholesale electricity market in the world, including 

all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, 

New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, 

West Virginia and the District of Columbia. 

The PJM market is settled and dispatched by the ISO. The PJM uses 

software it developed internally to provide wholesale settlement, but 

it relies on the individual market participants to do their own meter 

reading and profiling, thus their own meter-data management. As 

AMI and interval meter reading expands under the new federal policy, 

however, this process will become more complex at all levels and the 

data-handling requirements will again explode exponentially. 

Meter-data management is one of the most complex and dataintensive 

computing challenges utilities face, probably comparable in 

some ways to the millions of electronic credit card and banking transactions 

that are tracked worldwide by various financial institutions. 

It isn’t an insurmountable task, but for an individual utility it can be a 

challenging one. The challenge just got bigger with the adoption of the 

Energy Policy Act.

CHRIS HAMILOS, Chairman 

and CEO of LODESTAR 

Corporation, discusses how 

three decades of experience 

in managing meter data 

positions LODESTAR 

to address demand 

response initiatives. 

N O R T H A M E R I C A 

9 7 8 . 5 3 2 . 4 5 5 5 

E U R O P E 

4 4 .17. 3 7 8 5 . 2 2 6 6 

A U S T R A L I A 

6 1 . 7. 3 8 3 9 . 1 7 0 0 

C E O I N T E R V I E W : 

The Next Generation of LODESTAR’s 

Meter Data Management 

What is LODESTAR doing to help energy 

companies with demand response programs? 

CH: Over the past ten years, we have provided 

software for demand response programs with 

large C&I customers. The EPAct 2005 mandates 

comprehensive evaluations of Demand Response 

Programs to help manage supply and demand 

balances through dynamic price signals and advanced 

metering. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce demand 

during peak periods and defer the need for additional 

generation. Utilities need to be prepared to address 

these new demands. 

Describe your three generations of 

meter data management solutions. 

CH: FIRST GENERATION— In the 1980s our flagship 

product, LodeStar ® , was used to perform load research 

and analysis and was recognized for its ability to handle 

large volumes of interval data. Many clients were using 

LodeStar for its cost-of-service analysis, rate analysis, 

forecasting, and distribution planning capabilities. 

SECOND GENERATION—In the 90s, we created 

an integrated suite that included an enterprise data 

repository which supported rate analysis, complex 

billing, meter data validation & estimation, settlement, 

forecasting, and real-time pricing capabilities for C&I 

customers. The centralized repository included a more 

robust data management tool to handle the volume 

and complexity of data used for load management 

and forecasting. 

THIRD GENERATION—By early 2000, we enhanced 

our LODESTAR ® Customer Choice Suite (CCS ) to 

include enhanced data and process management, 

leveraging the LODESTAR ® Energy Information 

Platform (EIP ). The underpinning of the suite, 

EIP provides a platform for an enterprise repository 

for customer and energy usage data for interval and 

scalar meters. LODESTAR CCS continued to provide 

utilities support for demand side management 

programs through our billing, pricing, load forecasting, 

settlements, and distribution planning applications. 

E N E R G Y S O F T W A R E S O L U T I O N S 

www.lodestarcorp.com 

Those applications evolved to include more 

transactional-based capabilities during this time. 

In 2005, we developed a separate product for 

meter data management. This component included 

more comprehensive functionality in the areas of 

revenue protection, bill determinant calculations, 

distribution planning and client specific validation 

and estimation routines. A commercially off-the-shelf 

application, LODESTAR ® Meter Data Management 

supports TOU, Real-Time Pricing, and Critical Peak 

Pricing. The product will also support any other 

pricing programs that utilities will offer to their C&I 

and residential customers in the future, attesting to 

its flexible nature. 

The solution’s flexibility is also demonstrated in 

the product’s ability to seamlessly integrate with pricing 

and billing applications as well as with legacy CIS or 

CRM solutions. This critical trait extends a company’s 

prior investments in software solutions. We also leverage 

Oracle ® capabilities, EAI middleware for Enterprise 

Service Bus, and our own Integration Platform to 

enable a more optimal and cost-justified solution. 

How does LODESTAR’s third generation 

of meter data management address the 

new demand response challenges? 

CH: Our solution enables energy providers to implement 

large scale MDM, dynamic pricing and billing 

programs for all customers—including residential 

customers. This is due to our integration strategy which 

enables us to connect with any interface, including 

web services interfaces. Additionally, the product 

communicates with multiple head in systems and 

also feeds the downstream processes without standard 

protocols. This results in reduced costs, improvements 

in service and reliability, and increased revenue. 

The product was also designed with an optimal 

technical architecture. It combines out-of-the-box 

functions and features with the flexibility to handle 

specific client and business rules. It is easy-to-use 

with a comprehensive graphical visualization of 

energy usage data. 

To hear about our unmatched scalability and 

participate in our next MDM webex demo, e-mail 

marketing@lodestarcorp.com, or call 978-532-4555.

[ c a s e s t u d y ] 

City of Princeton, Illinois Goes Solid-State 

with Automated Meter Reading 

Profile 

The City of Princeton, Illinois, operates a public electric and water 

utility and is located about 90 miles southwest of Chicago and 

has a population of 7,501. The town is growing at a rate of about 

3 percent per year and the city is responding to the growth with 

major expansions and upgrades of city services while operating as 

efficiently as possible. 

With improved customer service and efficiency in mind, Electric 

Superintendent Jason Bird met with the city staff to determine 

how to handle the growth and demand for city services. 

“People are migrating to the area and customers need a more efficient 

infrastructure,” Bird said. “Providing superior levels of service 

reliability to our electric and water customers is our priority and we 

saw the need to upgrade our technologies to better serve our city.” 

Princeton’s goal was to maximize and leverage the services 

currently offered to city residents. The utility had two full-time 

employees for all the city’s metering. In the past, most of the work 

was performed by the meter reader, directly accessing each meter 

per location and recording that data on paper for upcoming bills. 

In some cases, reads were estimated. 

“Estimated reads are difficult to explain to customers and often 

the outcome of those reads causes customers to question the integrity 

of the read,” said Bird. “We also wanted to resolve that issue.” 

Hiring any new resources was definitely not an option for city 

officials. Princeton’s team began researching automated meter 

reading (AMR) solutions and the business case for adopting solidstate 

meters and AMR technology. 

oPPortunity 

Princeton performed meter testing to acquire actual numbers on 

how accurately the electromechanical meters performed. About 

500 to 600 meters were tested. The average loss for those meters 

was about 3 percent. 

“Meter reading devices and AMR technology 

have delivered a lot of value without the city 

having to change the manpower, since we were 

able to transition meter readers to other positions 

and that is exactly what we wanted.” 

— Jason Bird, Electric Superintendent, City of Princeton, Illinois 

“We took an average of all reads and came up with a very conservative 

estimation that we were losing $70,000 annually in unmeasured 

energy usage because of the slow meters,” Bird said. 

The utility made the decision to change-out 100 percent of its 

electromechanical meters to Itron’s solid-state meters. The anticipated 

return on investment, even with the cost of the new meters 

subtracted, showed a project payoff in just over three years. The 

projected cost savings did not include the additional average of 

$70,000 in estimated lost revenue that would be immediately 

gained with the reliability and accuracy of solid-state meters. In 

addition, the upgrade to AMR on the water side reflected returns 

from labor costs, operations efficiency and maintenance costs. 


results 

Princeton had more accurate savings and better customer service. 

By automating meters, utility workers no longer scrambled to read 

hard-to-reach meters. With the installation of fiber optics, highspeed 

internet service became available in 2004. This bodes well 

for the future and the possible use of broadband over powerline 

(BPL),” said Bird. 

“One benefit of the AMR mobile data collection is the BPL compatibility,” 

said Bird. “We need specific information in real-time on 

latitude and longitude to provide fast internet services to designated 

areas of business in Princeton. The Itron solid-state mobile AMR 

solution worked well with BPL and the expeditiousness of this system 

saved labor and operations costs that were not anticipated.” 

The long-term deployment strategy allowed Princeton to easily 

upgrade to CENTRON R300 technology and eliminate inaccurate 

reads. The deployment involved 4,300 Itron electronic solid-state 

meters and 3,700 water meters equipped with Itron ERT modules. 

The deployment also included three Itron handhelds and Itron 

mobile units with MV-RS software. 

The total deployment for nearly a 100% change-out was completed 

in just over five years and it included both the Itron SENTINEL ® 

meter for commercial and industrial markets and the CENTRON ® 

meter for the residential market. 

Princeton completed the AMR change-out using mobile driveby 

collection systems and implemented a new billing cycle, reading 

three cycles in two days rather than reading two cycles per month. 

Now all cycles and reads are done in six to nine days versus 14 days 

with only one meter reader. 

“Meter reading devices and AMR technology have delivered a 

lot of value without the city having to change the manpower, since 

we were able to transition meter readers to other positions and 

that is exactly what we wanted,” said Bird. 

Princeton is now exploring key accounts for customers to 

monitor their own usage. The city ultimately wants to have real live 

readings on an hourly basis at each customer’s request. 

ContaCt your Itron regIonal representatIve to 

learn more about the many ways Itron Can help 

Improve your busIness, or vIsIt www.Itron.Com 

a D v E r T i s E m E n T

Kansas City 

Pushes Metering 

Frontier 

SETTING NEW GoAlS FoR AMR 

By William P. herdegen III 

Customers’ expectations of utilities are rising. Whether 

it is because of their greater reliance on technology, the availability of 

information, or rising energy costs, the industry as a whole must pay 

attention. At the same time, utilities are facing higher costs due to labor 

and benefits, maintenance of aging infrastructure, and more volatile 

commodity markets. Kansas City Power & Light recognizes what the 

future holds and is leveraging its automateic meter reading (AMR) system 

to build the “utility of the future.” 

The company currently has an automated metering-reading system 

with Cellnet and MV90 metering. These technologies provide the ability to 

capture customer usage frequently rather than at the end of a billing cycle. 

KCP&L currently captures meter data from Cellnet once per day and has 

the ability to capture multiple readings per day, up to five-minute interval 

data. The system has been in place since 1998 and the company was the 

first Cellnet fixed-network customer to deploy. We converted 99.5 percent 

of our metropolitan meters during a four-year implementation. 

1stRun_3Picks_2.25x9.75_3rdPgs.qxd 12/12 

Will your AMI System 

meet the provisions 

of EPACT? 

Elster has the answer 

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) 

requires that utilities offer customers 

time-based rates and provide the smart 

metering technology to enable them. 

Elster’s flexible and robust EnergyAxis ® 

System is designed to meet EPACT 

requirements today. Innovative and 

multi-tasking, the system’s intelligent 

two-way communications provides 

highly accurate kWh consumption, 

kW demand, time-of-use, critical tier 

pricing, and load profile interval data 

– all on command. 

Technology to Empower Utilities 

Elster Electricity, LLC 

Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 

+1 800 338 5251 (US Toll Free) 

+1 905 634 4895 (Canada) 

www.elsterelectricity.com 


customer overview 

Fredericksburg is located approximately 80 miles west of Austin, 

in the Texas Hill Country. In 1940, the City of Fredericksburg (City) 

became a municipal utility when they purchased the electric utility 

system from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). The 

City’s water and sewer system was built in 1936. Prior to that time 

all residences and businesses received water from private wells. 

At the present time the City of Fredericksburg supplies water to all 

customers from City owned wells. The City’s water system is rated 

superior by regulators in Texas. 

Fredericksburg’s municipal utilities serve a population of about 

10,000 which consists of 5,220 electrical and 6,050 water service 

accounts. Since acquiring the electrical utility in 1940, Fredericksburg’s 

focus has been on providing superior customer service, with 

excellent reliability, while maintaining reasonable rates in Texas. 

The City of Fredericksburg bills their electrical customers for kWh 

usage only; there is no billing for demand. For water service, the 

City has a tiered rate structure based on consumption. 

customer situation 

Fredericksburg has seen tremendous growth over the last ten years 

and the number of multi-utility meters has increased dramatically. 

Consequently, the City’s two meter readers could no longer keep 

up with manually reading an increasing number of meters. During 

the budgeting process for the 2005 fiscal year, the City decided 

not to add a third meter reader, but to evaluate the benefits of using 

a partial or fully automated metering system. The drivers for turning 

to smart metering automation were to: 

• Reduce meter reading costs. 

• Reduce the time needed to read meters so that earned 

revenue more closely matches billed revenue every month. 

• Improve customer service. 

In 1976, the Texas PUC established regulations which set boundary 

lines for where utilities can operate within the state. These 

regulations allow Fredericksburg to expand their water service 

because it does not have competition outside its current city limits. 

However, the City is restricted to providing electrical service only 

to customers within its electric service territory because it is surrounded 

by another utility provider. Therefore as areas are annexed 

and the city expands, the City is able to provide water service to 

those new areas. 

The challenge that Fredericksburg faced was finding a smart 

metering system that would allow them to read both electric and 

water meters on demand. Additionally, the system had to be 

capable of handling water meters that were located outside their 

electrical service areas. This was a key driver in selecting a smart 

metering automation system. 



The City of Fredericksburg, Texas Improves Business 

Operations with Metering Automation 

elster electricity’s energyaxis ® solution 

To meet the challenges they faced, the City of Fredericksburg selected 

Elster Electricity’s EnergyAxis System. The EnergyAxis System utilizes 

a controlled wireless mesh network that is self registering and self 

healing. The network provides two-way communications between the 

meters and the Metering Automation Server (MAS). AMCO Water 

Metering Systems is supplying the water meters for the city wide 

project. The first phase of their city wide deployment was completed 

in the first quarter of 2006. Full deployment will occur in two more 

phases over the next two years or less. 

success realized 

The EnergyAxis System has enabled the City of Fredericksburg 

to read all the meters installed in the first phase on the same day, 

resulting in the same billing period for those customers. It also 

gives the City the capability to collect daily electric and water 

meter readings. This data can be used to assist customers in analyzing 

their consumption, promote conservation, and help the City 

identify power losses in the system and possible water leaks. It will 

also enable the City to comply with new Texas laws that require 

utilities to collect data to provide to customers in near real time. 

Benefits realized 

By reading all of the meters on the same day and closer to the 

billing date the City was able to significantly reduce the difference 

between earned and unbilled revenue. This will enable the City to 

match costs and revenues more closely and determine distribution 

losses within its electric and water systems. 

Fredericksburg will be able to pay for the system with the additional 

revenue realized from improved business operations and 

eliminating the billing cycle float on revenue created by manual 

meter reading. 

elster electricity, llc 

gaBrielle e. Puccio 

director, corPorate communications 

gaBrielle.Puccio@us.elster.com 

919.250.5413 

amco water metering systems 

todd miller 

Business Partner manager 

todd.miller@amcowater.com 

214.738.3081 


The goal is to create two-way, real-time 

communication with customers ... 

AMR offers many benefits. Reductions in estimated bills and outage times, 

improved read accuracy and decreased labor costs are widely recognized benefits. 

KCP&L was able to leverage these benefits to improve customer satisfaction 

and efficiency. The utility was able to identify tampering and diversions 

through flags showing reverse rotations or minimum usage in the system. 

Capturing that data allowed us to avoid revenue losses. The company then 

developed AccountLink, a free service that allows KCP&L customers to manage 

their electricity usage. Secure access personal account and billing information 

is available any time. Customers are able to view side-by-side comparisons 

of current and prior bills, view transaction history, make payments and view 

daily usage via Cellnet data. This product is also available to the company’s 

customer-care department and has reduced field visits for unnecessary meter 

reads and meter tests. 

Recently, the company integrated the AMR with its outage-management 

system, placing the utility on the leading edge of AMR technology utilization. This 

integration allowed for the creation of a restoration-verification application. 

The application automatically requests meter status from Cellnet for reported 

service outages and feeds the responses directly into the outage-management 

system. The system is integrated with the automated customer-care system 

and allows for customers to be called back if their premises is receiving power. 

Over the next five years, KCP&L will expand programs that allow it to 

partner with customers to jointly manage load. Recently, the company introduced 

the Energy Optimizer. Customers can use programmable thermostats 

in their homes to monitor usage and assist in curtailment efforts. 

Utility of the Future 

KCP&L is currently working with Lodestar to implement a revenue-assurance 

data-analysis and storage tool. Since a disadvantage of AMR is losing “your 

eyes” in the field, it is important to have a solid revenue-tracking system. 

KCP&L’s system will mine AMR data to analyze usage patterns by customer 

segments and compile them into a library for query and analysis. This system 

will allow the company to proactively detect system errors or theft. 

The company is planning to begin the second phase of a project that will 

eliminate the need for customers to report an outage. The system would 

notify the customer of the outage, the estimated restoration time and the 

cause of the outage. 

The goal is to create two-way, real-time communication with customers 

and the AMR solution is an integral piece of that transaction. In the future, 

customers may receive dynamic rates that provide economic signals. They will 

have access to real-time or near-real-time information about 

their own usage so they can make decisions based on timely 

information. As we look at expanded commercial and industrial 

customer-curtailment programs and additional energy-efficiency 

programs, we are positioned favorably because of our 

early AMR implementation. 

William P. Herdegen III is Kansas City Power & Light 

vice president, customer operations. 

1stRun_3Picks_2.25x9.75_3rdPgs.qxd 12/12 

Will this technology 

savvy generation test 

the limits of your AMI? 


Tomorrow’s technology savvy consumer 

will demand more choices in 

utility services, like real-time information 

regarding their energy usage. 

Elster’s EnergyAxis ® System is designed 

to meet those needs today. The system 

delivers information utilities need to 

enhance customer services, including 

remote disconnect/connect for move/in 

and move/outs, power outage notification 

and restoration, and on-demand 

meter reads. 




+1 800 338 5251 (US Toll Free) 

+1 905 634 4895 (Canada) 




Twenty First Century Communications 

Supports Dominion with Automated 

Field Crew Management and Real-time Reporting 

tHe oPPortunity 

In an environment of increasingly longer and more devastating 

storm seasons, customer service demands placed on utility companies 

have grown exponentially. Dominion is one of the nation’s 

largest producers of energy, serving 2.4 million customers in nine 

states. One of their greatest challenges was retrieving critical 

information from the field in a timely manner in order to provide 

progress reports during a storm, update their customers, validate 

today’s work, and plan tomorrow’s work. 

Work crews responding to outages and downed lines needed 

to be able to call in without receiving a busy signal from the Dispatch 

Center. Members of mutual aid crews, regardless of equipment 

type, needed to be able to connect with Dominion to report 

job status and receive assignments. And demands on call center 

staff needed to be alleviated. 

Immediate data collection and real time reporting were also 

necessities so the utility did not have to wait until an end of shift 

— or even after an event — to analyze performance and update 

customer service. 

For typical day-to-day work management, Dominion also 

needed a simple, non-hardware solution to progress work from 

one status to the next; so that once a job was complete the next 

team could be dispatched to perform follow-up work. 

tHe aPProacH 

After evaluating its options, Dominion decided to go with Field 

Connect, by Twenty First Century Communications (TFCC). 

TFCC has provided Dominion with exemplary automated outage 

reporting management services since 1997. Field Connect is a 

fully hosted, automated job tracking system that uses the latest 

in advanced speech technology and direct real-time interface to 

allow field personnel to report job status quickly, easily and in realtime 

by simply speaking into their phones. 

Dominion presented TFCC with a rather specific and demanding 

set of functionality needs. Through successful collaboration 

with TFCC’s technical team, a long list of requirements was pared 

down into a series of questions with reasonable responses to get 

the data needed from the work crews. Says Tim Kesler, Dominion 

Technical Advisor, “we were very pleased we had a good partner 

with whom to effectively work through that process.” 

Dominion went live in late April on the heels of a company-wide 

work management system deployment. TFCC built Dominion’s 

customized system on the fly to interact with this program. Field 

Connect is used to complete normal work every day and restoration 

work during storms. 

Field personnel simply identify themselves, speak what work 

order they want to close, and the system takes it from there. Field 


Connect asks the questions to be answered for the type of work 

reported, prompting proper responses when appropriate and 

passively confirming responses as the conversation moves along. 

Key for Dominion is that they are able to use Field Connect over 

multiple systems within the company. Outage management and 

day-to-day work management exist on different platforms. The tool 

is transparently talking to multiple systems (Validation, Scheduled 

and Emergency work), and multiple jobs of multiple types can be 

reported within the same call. 

tHe result 

Field Connect allows both Dominion’s teams and mutual aid crews 

to communicate via cell phone, so incompatible radio systems or 

mobile data terminals are no longer an issue. Advanced Speech 

Recognition eliminates the communication bottlenecks that 

occurred while field crews were waiting to reach a human CSR. 

The system takes the burden off both dispatch and customer 

service staff. 

Progress reporting through the day is a critical barometer 

during storms — both for validating today’s plan and for projections 

beyond today. Analysis without a thorough picture of events 

doesn’t tell the whole story. Field Connect’s real time interface 

provides immediate reporting and allows for improved in-day and 

post-storm analysis, actually filling in data gaps through automation. 

Utilities need the resources to continue to meet their customer 

commitments during a storm. Utilities can’t just ‘wait and 

hope,’ — they have to ‘know now and adjust.’ Real-time reporting 

through this tool provides a mechanism for that. 

“Field Connect is another tool in our toolbox 

for providing customers with information that 

lets them plan their lives. We are positioned 

now to turn busy signals and field frustration 

into valuable information for ourselves and our 

customers.” 

— Tim Kesler, Technical Advisor, Dominion 

for more information Please visit 

www.tfcci.com or call 1.800.382.8356. 


Energy Law 

and Metering 

ThE ENERGy PolICy ACT — oNE yEAR lATER 

By Edmund P. Finamore 

Recently, while on a visit to a small Midwestern municipal utility, I 

began to fully recognize the broad impact the 2005 Energy Policy Act will soon 

have on the utility industry from both a regulatory and operational point of 

view. While I was aware that the provisions of this act require utilities to offer 

net metering and time-of-use rates for all customers, I had until then failed 

to fully grasp the sweeping nature of the mandated requirements on all types 

and sizes of electric utilities, including municipals and rural electrics. 

With the arrival of the first (one year) implementation milestone, the 

2005 act has already generated substantial compliance activity, particularly 

the provisions requiring state regulators to initiate proceedings on demand 

response and advanced metering within one year of enactment. Also required 

within one year was the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) 

first annual assessment of regional demand response resources and capabilities. 

And within 18 months of enactment, electric utilities must begin 

offering customers time-based rates and provide advanced meters capable 

of recording time-differentiated energy usage. For many municipals and rural 

electric cooperatives, meeting this timetable will be difficult. 

While changes to the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act of 1978 (PURPA) 

that increase reliability standards and govern utility mergers and acquisitions 

have received the most attention, some lesser-known provisions, such as the 

requirement to offer net metering, will likely have significant implications for 

utility system operators and regional ISOs. Utility and ISO/RTO personnel will 

EnergyBiz_2.25x9.75_3rdPages.qxd 8/16/06 

Will the reliability of 

your AMI meet all their 

future expectations? 


Elster Electricity’s EnergyAxis ® System 

delivers the high accuracy, reliability, 

flexibility, and robust operation today’s 

utility demands, and their next generation 

customers will expect. Built 

on proven metering and intelligent 

controlled mesh network technology, 

the EnergyAxis System’s advanced 

capabilities empower utilities to 

improve business operations, provide 

a variety of consumer time-based rate 

choices, enhance distribution planning, 

and improve revenue assurance. 




+1 800 338 5251 (US Toll Free) 

+1 905 634 4895 (Canada) 



For many municipals 

and rural electrics, 

advanced metering 

has not been 

considered a priority 

before now ... 

© 2006 Enspiria Solutions, Inc., an Osmose company. 

No Mountain Too High, No Goal Unachievable 

Jim Ketchledge – Accomplished mountain climber, outdoors and 

nature enthusiast, Project Management Professional, leading utility 

systems integration authority 

With his holistic approach to the world above 12,000 feet, Jim Ketchledge 

is a rare breed even among his fellow mountaineers. A solo alpinist, he’s 

overcome the harshest weather conditions and steepest slopes in his 

quest to climb Colorado’s highest and most challenging mountains. Jim 

uses the same calm confidence, sound judgment and self-assured 

strength that guide him to new summits to surmount even the toughest 

technology challenges. With 20 years of systems engineering expertise 

and nine years as a project management professional, Jim has helped 

utilities around the world safely overcome even the most difficult terrain. 

Real People with Inspired Solutions to Real Problems 

www.enspiria.com • 303.741.8400 


be expected to monitor an increasing number of independent power producers 

(IPPs) and co-generators wanting a connection to their power grids. Previously, 

these suppliers were discouraged from doing so since utilities were only obligated 

to pay for independently generated power on an avoided-cost basis. 

If the implications of the 2005 act remain difficult to understand for major 

investor-owned utilities, meeting the requirements is even more problematic 

for the large number of “non-regulated” utilities that do not fall under 

state regulatory commission oversight. Compliance must be ensured by each 

utility’s regulatory authority such as a municipality’s city council or a rural 

electric’s board of directors. For many municipals and rural electrics, advanced 

metering has not been considered a priority before now, and the time-of-use 

and net-metering requirements are going to take time to implement. 

Looking at the current state of advanced metering deployment in the United 

States, it is also clear that many investor-owned utilities are a long way from 

implementing AMR systems that can deliver reliable interval usage data capable 

of supporting time-of-use rates for a majority of their customers. While many 

high-end customers with large commercial demands have installed advanced 

meters using dedicated cellular or telephone lines, this solution is not costeffective 

or practical for large numbers of smaller customers who are frequently

located in remote or rural areas. Lacking a reliable communications option for 

these customers, a return to broad-based use of chart recorders and on-site 

downloading of stored meter data is a distinct possibility. And one wonders if 

the large number of mobile AMR systems installed by many utilities will lead to a 

new category of stranded costs as utilities find that time-of-use rates cannot 

be adequately supported by their mobile systems. 

Clearly, there is more to the new energy law than meets the untrained 

eye. The metering requirements and timetables prescribed in the act must 

be followed by the state public utility commissions and implemented by all 

electric utilities. Time-based rates must reflect a utility’s varying costs of 

generating and buying power and be supported through the use of advanced 

metering systems that are available today or are still in the developmental 

stages. While regulators may have some latitude on implementation, Scott 

DeBroff, chairman of Smigel, Anderson, & Sacks Energy Practice Group in 

Harrisburg, Pa., recently advised me that utilities and regulators are expected 

to make every effort to fulfill the requirements of the Act. I hope the smaller, 

unregulated utilities are up to the task. 

Edmund P. Finamore, formerly with Duquesne Light, 

is president of ValuTech Solutions. 

EKA_halfP_EnBiz.qxd 8/30/06 5:25 PM Page 1 

A MEASURE ABOVE 

Operational efficiency for utilities is vital today. New technologies must leverage 

existing infrastructure investments. A new generation of two-way drive-by 

technology has emerged. While there are many types of drive-by systems only 

one offers the maximum solution for commercial and industrial metering. EkaNet 

mobile wireless system not only provides the meter reading but also 

simultaneously performs demand reset of a 3-phase meter. Combined with our 

powerful accessory software tools for the truck, a long felt market need is met. 

For further information contact: 

Smart Meters and the Energy Policy Act 

Phone: (817) 504-7775 

301-990-3450 x-212 

sales@ekasystems.com 

metering articles from EnergyPulse 

to view any of these events, please go to 

www.energycentral.com/quicklink and type the 

quick link code ( ) into the quick link box. 

scott debroff, smigel, anderson & sacks 

P1308 

Communications, Command & Control 

John brett, tantalus systems 

P1174 

How to Sell Advanced Metering 

mark gabriel, Positive energy directions 

P1132 

Wireless Mesh AMR Solutions 

henry aszklar, eka systems 

P1091 

The Pareto Payoff 

eric murray, tantalus systems 

P1175 

o n t o p i c 

We Make It All Mesh 

www.ekasystems.com

m E T E r i n G , a m r & D aTa m a n a G E m E n T 

Metering, AMR & 

Data Management 

SOURCEBOOK 

Listing Categories 

AMR SYSTEMS PAgE 66 

COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE PAgE 68 

CONSULTINg SERVICES PAgE 68 

METERS PAgE 70 

METER DATA MANAgEMENT SOFTWARE/SERVICES PAgE 70 

METER READINg OUTSOURCINg PAgE 71 

METER REPAIR/REPLACEMENT SERVICES PAgE 71 

AMR SYSTEMS 

Accurate Metering Products & Services 

(AMPS) 

5773 Venice Blvd. 

Los Angeles, CA 90019 

(323) 933-9443 

www.accuratemetering.com 

Advanced AMR Technologies 

285 Newbury St. 

Peabody, MA 01960 

(978) 826-7660 

www.advancedamr.com 

American Utility Management 

2211 York Road 

Oak Brook, IL 60523 

(800) 418-5393 

www.aum-inc.com 

American Water & Energy Savers 

4431 N. Dixie Highway 

Boca Raton, FL 33431 

(800) 950-9058 

www.americanwater.com 

AMRON Technologies, Inc. 

P.O. Box 549 

Hartsville, SC 29551 

(888) 992-6766 

www.amronm5.com 

ArKion Systems 

230 Union St. 

New Bedford, MA 02740 

(866) 275-4661 

www.arkionsystems.com 

Hunt_EnerGBizftrFNL 8/4/06 1:48 PM Page 1 


Badger Meter, Inc. 

4545 W. Brown Deer Road 

Milwaukee, WI 53224 

(800) 876-3837 

www.badgermeter.com 

Cannon Technologies 

8301 Golden Valley Road, Suite 300 

Minneapolis, MN 55427 

(800) 827-7966 

Fax (763) 595-7776 

www.cannontech.com 

Contact 

Bill Simons, V.P. Sales & Marketing 

(763) 253-5503 

Dave Snyder, V.P. of Field Sales 

(804) 360-3282 

Mary Jo Nye, Director of Marketing 

(763) 253-5593 

Cannon Technologies delivers automated distribution 

solutions to more than 400 electric utilities 

throughout North America. Cannon’s Yukon ® 

Advanced Energy Services Platform enables 

utilities of all sizes to implement automated meter 

reading, load management, distribution automation 

and substation integration and monitoring 

solutions on one easy-to-use program. 

Our power line carrier AMR solution 

combines the superior speed of our PLC with 

the most intelligent, most accurate meters in the 

industry to establish an Intelligent Distribution 

Management System. 

Cellnet Technology Inc. 

30000 Mill Creek Ave. 

Alpharetta, GA 30022 

(678) 258-1500 

www.cellnet.com 

Comverge, Inc. 

120 Eagle Rock Ave., Suite 190 

East Hanover, NJ 07936 

(973) 884-5970 

Fax (973) 884-3504 

www.comverge.com 

Contact 

Dawn Peterson, Customer Relations Manager 

(888) 565-5525 

Comverge, Inc. is the leading Demand 

Response company, committed to providing 

innovative solutions to peak demand challenges. 

Through its Enterprise division, Comverge offers 

fully dispatchable peak capacity through demand 

response via a PPA or other long-term contract 

and other program-outsourcing services. Through 

its Solutions division, Comverge offers a broad 

range of demand response technologies, from 

digital cellular AMR endpoints to residential price 

responsive home automation systems via “smart” 

thermostats to grid automation solutions to direct 

load-control switches. 

ConectiSys Corp. 

24307 Magic Mountain Parkway, Suite 41 

Valencia, CA 91355 

(661) 295-6769 

www.conectisys.com 

Datamatic 

3600 K Ave. 

Plano, TX 75074 

(800) 880-2878 

www.datamatic.com 

DataRemote Inc. 

2889 Bunsen Ave., Suite D 

Ventura, CA 93003 

(805) 339-9739 

www.dataremote.com 

Echelon Corp. 

550 Meridian Ave. 

San Jose, CA 95126 

(408) 938-5200 

www.echelon.com 



Guaranteed utility satisfaction. 800-828-4055 • www.hunttechnologies.com

Eka Systems Inc. 

20251 Century Blvd., Suite 120 

Germantown, MD 20874 

(301) 515-7118 

Fax (301) 990-3450 

www.ekasystems.com 

Contact 

Vance Hall, Sales 

(817) 504-7775 

Vladimir Rizberg, Business Development 

(301) 990-3450 x 203 

Prakash Chakravarthi, President 

(301) 990-3450 x 201 

Eka Systems is a wireless communications 

systems company that is deploying a flexible, scalable 

wireless technology platform, for AMR/AMI 

applications. The Eka Systems platform provides 

a solid, well-defined product line, with cost and 

functionality optimized. Eka System supports the 

advanced-metering infrastructure by providing 

15-minute interval data within a 15-minute window. 

The system is being deployed for large-scale utility 

metering and multi-tenant facility sub-metering 

applications for the electric, water and gas utilities. 

Eka has a growing list of utility customers both in 

the U.S. and globally. Eka’s product line works with 

meters from multiple vendors such as GE, Itron, 

Elster, Landis+Gyr, Neptune and Sensus. 

Elster Electricity 

208 S. Rogers Lane 

Raleigh, NC 27592 

(919) 212-4800 

Fax (218) 562-4878 


Contact 

support@us.elster.com 

Sales Support, US Toll Free 

(800) 257-9754 

Technical Support, US Toll Free 

(800) 338-5251 

Canada Sales Support 

(905) 634-4895 

Elster Electricity offers integrated cost-effective 

solutions including advanced electricity 

meters, communication solutions and meteringautomation 

systems for residential, commercial, 

Hunt_EnerGBizftrFNL and industrial applications. 8/4/06 1:48 PM Page 1 

Designed to meet the diverse electricity 

metering requirements of a global customer base, 

Elster’s metering products include advanced 

high-accuracy ANSI and IEC electricity meters, 

the EnergyAxis ® System with intelligent two-way 

communications featuring the new electronic 

REX ® meter, and the ALPHA ® meter line. 

Enspiria Solutions, Inc. 

SEE COMPLETE LISTING ON PAGE 68 

GE Energy 

4200 Wildwood Parkway 

Atlanta, GA 30339 

(678) 844-5476 

www.ge.com/energy 

Harris-McBurney Co. 

2120 N. US Highway 301 

Tampa, FL 33619 

(813) 626-7171 

www.hmcb.com 

Honeywell Utility Solutions 

999 Broadway, Suite 300 

Saugus, MA 01906 

(800) 345-6770 x 615 

www.honeywell.com/utility 

Hunt Technologies 

6436 County Road 11 

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 

(218) 562-4877 

Fax (218) 562-4878 

www.hunttechnologies.com 

Contact 

Dave Connaker, Director of Sales 

(218) 562-5146 

Dave Gervenak, V.P. Sales & Marketing 

(218) 562-5523 

Hunt Technologies uses innovative technology 

to provide the widest range of options for utilities 

seeking AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) 

solutions. Hunt provides power line carrier and RFtechnology 

for monitoring electric, water and gas 

meters. Based in central Minnesota, Hunt develops 

and supports hardware and software for 500 customers 

worldwide. For more information on Hunt 

Technologies, visit www.hunttechnologies.com. 

Itron 2818 N. Sullivan Road 

Spokane, WA 99216 

(800) 635-5461 

Fax (509) 891-3932 

www.itron.com 

Contact 

Tim Wolf, Manager, Strategic Marketing 

(800) 635-5461 

Peter Sanburn, Senior Marketing Campaign 

Specialist 

(800) 635-5461 

Itron is a leading technology provider and critical 

source of knowledge to the global energy and 

water industries. Nearly 3,000 utilities worldwide 

rely on Itron’s award-winning technology to provide 

the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery 

and use of energy and water. Itron creates value for 

its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for 

electricity metering; meter data collection; energy 

information management; demand response; load 

forecasting, analysis and consulting services; 

distribution system design and optimization; Webbased 

workforce automation; and enterprise and 

residential energy management. 

KP Electronics Inc. 

109 Tudor Drive 

North Wales, PA 19454 

(215) 542-7460 

www.kpelectronics.com 

Metretek, Inc. 

305 East Drive, Suite A 

Melbourne, FL 32904 

(321) 259-9700 

www.metretekfl.com 

Microtex Electronics 

2929 N. Central Expressway, Suite 250 

Richardson, TX 75080 

(972) 479-1011 

www.microtexelectronics.com 

Neptune Technology Group Inc. 

1600 Alabama Highway 229 

Tallassee, AL 36078 

(334) 283-6555 

Fax (334) 283-7299 

www.neptunetg.com 



Guaranteed utility satisfaction. 800-828-4055 • www.hunttechnologies.com 


m E T E r i n G , a m r & D aTa m a n a G E m E n T


Contact 

Debra Causey, Marketing Services Manager 

(334) 283-7482 

John Sala, Marketing Director 

(334) 207-2985 

Steve Feeney, Director of Sales 

(603) 423-9040 

Thousands of utilities use Neptune’s ARB ® 

Utility Management Systems to collect over 

46 million accurate meter readings per month, 

optimize revenue, improve customer service, 

and increase operational efficiencies. Neptune 

technology is available to ALL utilities. Licensed 

to read R300 and ERT-equipped electric meters, 

Neptune’s multi-utility automation solutions 

include a suite of field automation software used 

by nine of the largest 100 utility companies in 

North America, touching over 58 million connected 

customers. TAKE CONTROL. 

Northrop Grumman 

9326 Spectrum Center Blvd. 

San Diego, CA 92123 

(800) 884-1336 

www.it.northropgrumman.com/meter 

Radix Corp. 

4855 Wiley Post Way 

Salt Lake City, UT 84116 

(801) 537-1717 

www.radix-intl.com 

Silver Spring Networks 

2755 Campus Drive, Suite 205 

San Mateo, CA 94403 

(650) 357-8770 

www.silverspringnetworks.com 

SmartSynch, Inc. 

4400 Old Canton Road, Suite 300 

Jackson, MS 39211 

(601) 362-1780 

www.smartsynch.com 

Specialized Technical Services, Inc. 

500 Recycle Drive 

Richmond, KY 40475 

(800) 455-5578 

www.teamsts.com 

Speed Read Technologies 

4525 Saguaro Trail 

Indianapolis, IN 46268 

(317) 824-4544 

www.speedreadtech.com 

Telenetics Corp. 

39 Parker 

Irvine, CA 92618 

(949) 455-4000 

www.telenetics.com 



Trilliant Networks Inc. 

950 Cowie St. 

Granby, QC J2J 1P2 Canada 

(450) 375-0556 

www.trilliantnetworks.com 

Water Systems Inc. 

110 Space Park South 

Nashville, TN 37211 

(800) 679-2837 

www.watersystems.com 

Wellspring Wireless 

One Pearl Buck Court 

Bristol, PA 19007 

(215) 788-8485 

www.wellspringwireless.com 

COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE 

AirDesk 

37 Bon Air Drive 

Warminster, PA 18901 

(215) 734-7000 x 2301 

www.airdeskwireless.com 

Antenna Products Corp. 

101 S.E. 25th Ave. 

Mineral Wells, TX 76067 

(940) 325-3301 

www.antennaproducts.com 

Carlon 

25701 Science Park Drive 

Cleveland, OH 44122 

(800) 322-7566 

www.carlon.com 

DataComm for Business, Inc. 

P.O. Box 6329 

Champaign, IL 61826 

(217) 897-6600 

www.dcbnet.com 

Helicomm, Inc. 

1947 Camino Vida Roble, Suite 109 

Carlsbad, CA 92008 

(760) 918-0856 

www.helicomm.com 

CONSULTINg SERVICES 

Ascent Group, Inc. 

1584 Cowford Bridge Road 

Kite, GA 31049 

(478) 469-3950 

www.ascentgroup.com 


6560 S. Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Suite 500 

Greenwood Village, CO 80111 

(303) 520-2513 Fax (303) 799-6766 

www.enspiria.com 

Contact 

Cindy Johnson, Marketing Manager 

(303) 520-2513 

Mehrdod Mohseni, VP, Business Development 

(303) 521-5395 

Enspiria Solutions helps clients achieve 

maximum value from their IT investments in the 

areas of asset performance, operational effectiveness, 

customer service, and energy efficiency. 

Our consultants and systems implementers assist 

electric, water, and gas utilities in the design, 

business case development, justification, deployment, 

systems implementation, integration, and 

enhancement of AMR and MDMS systems. Our 

staff is at the leading edge of AMR and MDMR 

development and benefits realization. 

KEMA Inc. 

67 S. Bedford St., Suite 201E 

Burlington, MA 01803 

(781) 271-5700 

Fax (781) 229-4867 

www.kema.com/strategic_metering 

Contact 

Rob Wilhite, Director, AMR/AMI Practice 

(704) 843-0249 

Ron Cherbra, Consultant 

(609) 588-0042 

Garrett Johnston, Consultant 

(404) 324-0045 

KEMA provides energy consulting, technology 

implementation, testing services and market 

knowledge expertise to more than 500 energy 

and utility clients in over 70 countries. KEMA’s 

multi-dimensional approach bridges the gap 

between the strategists and the implementers, 

and the engineers and the accountants to effect 

lasting change. Founded in 1927, KEMA serves 

the complete spectrum of participants in the 

energy marketplace, offering a full complement 

of services supporting generation through the 

consumer side of the meter. 





MW Consulting 

3201 N.E. 183rd St., Suite 2005 

Aventura, FL 33160 

(404) 915-4991 

METERS 

American Meter Co. 

132 Welsh Road, Suite 140 

Horsham, PA 19044 

(215) 830-1800 

www.americanmeter.com 

AMETEK Power Instruments 

255 N. Union St. 

Rochester, NY 14605 

(585) 263-7700 

www.ametekpower.com 

Caprock Mfg. 

2303 120th St. 

Lubbock, TX 79423 

(806) 745-6454 

www.caprock-mfg.com 

Daniel L. Jerman Co. 

275 Railroad Place 

Hackensack, NJ 07601 

(800) 654-3733 

www.watermeters.com 

Integrated Metering Systems 

6741 102 Ave. N, Suite 27 

Pinellas Park, FL 33782 

(727) 546-3594 

www.imsmeters.com 

ista North America 

7250 Engineer Road, Suite H 

San Diego, CA 92111 

(800) 640-4133 

www.ista-na.com 

Landis+Gyr, Inc. 

2800 Duncan Road 

Lafayette, IN 47904 

(765) 742-1001 

www.landisgyr.us 

National Meter Industries, Inc. 

10 Commerce Park N. 

Bedford, NH 03110 

(800) 325-6674 

www.national-meter.com 

METER DATA MANAgEMENT 

SOFTWARE/SERVICES 

American Innovations 

12112 Technology, Suite 100 

Austin, TX 78727 

(512) 249-3400 

www.amerinnovations.com 


AutoSol 

16055 Space Center Blvd., Suite 450 

Houston, TX 77062 

(281) 286-6017 

www.autosoln.com 

Carina Technology, Inc. 

690 A Discovery Drive 

Huntsville, AL 35806 

(256) 704-0422 

www.carinatek.com 

eBidenergy, Inc. 

3445 Winton Place, Suite 219 

Rochester, NY 14623 

(585) 427-2610 

www.ebidenergy.com 

eMeter Corp. 

One Twin Dolphin Drive 

Redwood City, CA 94065 

(650) 631-7230 

www.emeter.com 

EnergyICT, Inc. 

101 J Morris Commons Lane, Suite 115 

Morrisville, NC 27560 

(919) 539-3231 

www.energyict.com 

Enerwise Global Technologies, Inc. 

511 Schoolhouse Road, Suite 200 

Kennell Square, PA 19348 

(610) 444-1100 

www.enerwise.com 


SEE COMPLETE LISTING ON PAGE 68 

FirstPoint Energy Corp. 

14908 N.W. Greenbrier Parkway 

Beaverton, OR 97006 

(503) 425-5100 

www.firstpoint.com 

Gestalt 

200 Federal St., Suite 400 

Camden, NJ 08103 

(856) 583-1600 

www.gestalt-llc.com 

LODESTAR Corp. 

One Corporation Way 

Peabody, MA 01960 

(978) 532-4555 

Fax (978) 532-4567 

www.lodestarcorp.com 


Contact 

Glenn MacRill, VP North America Sales & 

Services 

(713) 292-2500 

Shawn Fountain, VP Strategic Initiatives 

(303) 880-9207 

Trevor Martin, Chief Sales & Services Officer 

(858) 509-2601 

LODESTAR Corporation is a leading provider 

of energy software solutions. Our customers 

include 125 of the largest energy companies in 

North America, Europe, and Australia. These 

leading companies chose us because of our 25 

years of experience in, and dedication to, the 

energy industry. 

LODESTAR ® Customer Choice Suite TM is 

a flexible and scalable solution that addresses 

mission-critical application needs including meterdata 

management, billing, pricing, forecasting, 

load profiling, settlements and more. 

muNet 

442 Marrett Road, Suite 9 

Lexington, MA 02421 

(781) 861-8644 

www.munet.com 

Olameter Inc. 

300 Industrial Parkway S. 

Aurora, ON L4G 3T9 Canada 

(800) 903-7003 

www.olameter.com 

SPL WorldGroup 

525 Market St. 

San Francisco, CA 94105 

(415) 963-5600 

Fax (415) 963-5601 

www.splwg.com 

Contact 

Quentin Grady, Executive V.P. & General 

Manager, Americas Division 

(415) 963-5661 

Tracey Mitchell, V.P. Global Marketing 

Communications 

(973) 401-7525 

SPL Meter Data Management (MDM) is one of 

the applications through which SPL WorldGroup 

helps energy and water providers meet customer 

service and financial goals. SPL MDM stores 

meter-related data in a secure, auditable central 

repository and processes it for use by applications 

and business processes across the utility. 

SPL’s best-of-breed utility applications also 

include customer care and billing, asset and work 

management, mobile workforce management, outage 

and distribution management, and business 

intelligence. 




Over 60 pages. $695.00 

Stark North America, Inc. 

9801G Southern Pines Blvd. 

Charlotte, NC 28273 

(704) 676-0937 

www.starkna.net 

METER READINg OUTSOURCINg 

National Exemption Services Inc. (NES) 

604 Packard Court, Suite A 

Safety Harbor, FL 34695 

(727) 546-8848 

www.submeter.com 

VSI Meter Services, Inc. 

500 W. Dutton Mill Road, Suite 205 

Aston, PA 19014 

(800) 606-7981 

www.vsimeterservices.com 

METER REPAIR/REPLACEMENT SERVICES 

Corix Utilities 

126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 300 

Milwaukee, WI 53202 

(414) 291-6550 

Hunt_EnerGBizftrFNL 

www.corix.com 

8/4/06 1:48 PM Page 1 

2006 Mobile Data 

Report now available for 

immediate download. 

Visit www.energycentral.com 

and click on the "Knowledge" tab. 

For more information, call 800-459-2233 or 

303-782-5510. 

As utilities continue to push enterprise application 

such as CIS, ERP, EAM, Workforce Management and 

others out to field crews through mobile data systems, 

quantum leaps in the effectiveness and efficiency of these 

teams and individuals in the field are being realized. This 

“mobile” segment of the utility market is, not surprisingly, the 

fastest growing segment of the utility enterprise solutions market. 

The SEG Enterprise Solutions Market Intelligence Service (ES-MIS) 

has identified more than 200 projects opportunities; the leading application 

areas for these planned project activities are mobile projects. This market 

has been building for some time, but the convergence of technology, operating 

needs, and regulatory requirements has created a unique window of opportunity 

for utilities to finally push their operations to the field. 

The 2006 Sierra Energy Group Mobile Data report tracks this continuing 

advance including: 

Ì Data from recent mobile surveys as well as the ES-MIS programs. 

Ì How virtually all ERP and EAM vendors are “enabling” mobile systems in their software. 

Ì Details on enterprise system spending (including mobile) by 650 prominent utilities 

over three years. 

Ì The on-going growth in the number of mobile data-equipped vehicles at utilities. 

Ì Descriptions of the differences between the GIS-centric and the Workforce 

Management-centric mobile approaches and how they are growing together. 

Ì Descriptions of major mobile vendors and the competition in the market. 

OmniCel 

422 Business Center, Suite 2160 

Oaks, PA 19456 

(800) 332-2436 

www.omnicel.com 

Utility Systems & Applications 

2522 19th St. S.E. 

Salem, OR 97302 

(503) 315-2293 

www.utilitysystems.net 

Researcher, writer, analyst and consultant, Warren B. Causey has worked with 

technology for more than 25 years and in utilities for more than a decade. 

Causey is one of the most respected experts in energy. 

FOR THE LATEST 

METERING, AMR & DATA 

MANAGEMENT 

NEWS, EVENTS AND 

ARTICLES… GO TO 

TOPICS.ENERGYCENTRAL.COM 



Guaranteed utility satisfaction. 800-828-4055 • www.hunttechnologies.com 


m E T E r i n G , a m r & D aTa m a n a G E m E n T

METERING, AMR & DATA MANAGEMENT

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