EnergyBiz - September/October 2007 - (Page 65) » Guide&Sourcebook installed all of the advanced metering infrastructure it intends to, unless forced to install more. “This past year, we converted one of our remote districts to 100 percent AMR equipment,” says Bob Arnett, vice president of technology systems at Cobb Energy. “In our primary service territory, a number of our large commercial accounts are set up on AMR. Our intention is to complete the commercial AMR implementation within the next couple of years. As for our primary residential accounts, we do not intend to implement AMR. Our territory is too dense and the cost would be prohibitive.” Other parts of the country also are so far immune to the hype currently surrounding advanced metering infrastructure. “We are slow movers in this space, though we do have automated meter reading in a large part of our territory,” says Bart Thielbar, vice president of information technology at Northwestern Energy. Thielbar says the utility will make further moves into AMI as “customer needs and regulatory demands warrant.” The cost issue with AMI remains the major impediment to widespread immediate deployment. Another example of utility reluctance because of costs is in Florida, where FPL CIO Dennis Klinger says, “In our case, because of our environment, reading a meter once a month is not costly enough to justify any change.” Klinger does say that “creative pricing packages” might tempt the utility in the not-so-distant future. So, despite the push at the federal level, the lack of specific mandates in the energy act of 2005 has encouraged more AMR and AMI installations and the pace of such (Metering and data ManageMent) installations has picked up. Most studies now estimate that as many as 50 percent of all residences may have advanced meters within the next five–to–seven years. However, those estimates vary widely and that still leaves half the country to go. A large part of that half includes rural areas, particularly in the West, where the availability of high-speed wireless communications to support advanced metering infrastructure is limited. Satellites work, but satellite-based automatic meter reading is even more expensive. The widespread adoption and implementation of AMI and AMR remains an economic issue. It can be done; the technology is well advanced and mature. However, it still is expensive. Until the prices come down appreciably — something that is not anticipated with increased demand — utilities outside of high-pressure regulatory environments such as California are still waiting for more incentives or more mandates. Those incentives may come in the form of regulatory fiats, as they did in California. But regulators in other states are more prone than their peers in California to look at economic reality and see the problem. It is true that legislation and regulation can require utilities to install something that is economically questionable, which has already been done in California. If it is done in other parts of the country, utilities there will, of course, fall into line. However, if government requires advanced metering infrastructure everywhere, there will be tremendous costs, and it is taxpayers and customers who eventually will have to pick up the tab. ESCO Technologies Enabling the Utility Communication Solutions of Tomorrow, Based on the Proven Technologies of Today! ESCO Technologies Inc. www.escotechnologies.com (314) 213-7277 Hexagram www.hexagram.com (800) 969-1057 E n E rgyB i z Come see us at AMRA booth 458 ! ESCO Technologies companies provide the most innovative communications infrastructure available today TWACS ® by DCSI The Leader in proven 2-way, PLC-based, fixed network Advanced Metering Communications Systems Hexagram STAR® NetworkTM Leads in proven 2-way, RF-based, fixed network Advanced Metering Communications Systems Nexus Energy Software Software to unlock the power of AMI for the 21st Century utility and its customers TWACS By DCSI www.twacs.com (800) 297-2728 Nexus Energy Software www.nexusenergy.com (781) 694-3300 ▼ ▼ 66 September/October 2007 ▼ ▼ http://www.escotechnologies.com http://www.twacs.com http://www.hexagram.com http://www.nexusenergy.com
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