American Gas - March 2010 - (Page 24)

It All Computes UtIlItIes shAre theIr top It strAtegIes The world of informaTion Technology changes so rapidly ThaT deciding which Tools offer The besT “upgrade” relaTive To Their price Tags is a challenge for everyone, even The experTs. consequenTly, uTiliTy iT Teams are consTanTly assessing The laTesT advances in Their quesT To apply Technology To improve corporaTe efficiency and lower cosTs, wheTher iT involves meTer reading, mapping, dispaTch or cusTomer service, or simply Taking a page from The inTerneT To enhance collaboraTion among employees. Going on Autopilot First there were meter readers on foot. next came Amr, or automated meter reading, which put meter readers behind the wheel with a device that collects meter data as they drive by. now the utility industry has a third option— Ami, or advanced metering infrastructure. Ami involves attaching radio transmitters to existing gas meters. A data-collector, mounted on a tower or utility pole, picks up the transmissions and sends the meter readings to the utility’s billing database. Atmos energy corp. and Pacific Gas and electric co. (PG&e) are in the process of moving from on-foot meter readers to Ami technology throughout their service territories. “We’re finding that Ami provides highly accurate meter readings and also permits us to transfer gas service accounts from one customer to another from the office,” says rich Gius, Atmos energy vice president and chief information officer (ciO), energy and utilities, and chair of AGA’s Technology Advisory council. The terrain affects the range of each datacollection unit. Atmos energy has found thatmarch 2010 AmericAn GAs the antenna attached to its data-collection terminals can pick up meter transmissions from as far away as five miles, according to David Anglin, the utility’s director of regulated operations. in hilly san Francisco, some individual PG&e data-collectors can pull in data from thousands of meters, while others can gather data from just 10 or 12, according to Patricia Lawicki, PG&e senior vice president and ciO, gas and electric. “We have overlapping, so if one collector doesn’t pick up the transmission from the meter, the other one will,” she says. PG&e’s data collectors are attached to a combination of leased tower space and PG&e-owned towers and utility poles, while Atmos energy predominately uses leased tower space because it owns few towers. “You’d be amazed at how many towers are out there on which you can lease space,” says Anglin. “We had an aha moment when it came to rural areas. While some of the smallest towns we serve don’t have cell phone coverage, they still have pager service. even if that service has been abandoned, the infrastructure remains in place because other entities, such as radio stations, are using the towers.”

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - March 2010

American Gas - March 2010
President’s Message
In the Know
Contents
Industry News
Safety First
To Be the Best
It All Computes
From Volatile to Variable
Vendor News
Advertisers' Index
Places to Be
Marketplace
Jobline
Noteworthies
Facts on Gas

American Gas - March 2010