New Solid State AMR Meters

Article and interview by Kay Marshall

The title of this section is “Efficient Energy”. Rarely has there been an item to discuss in this section that so completely encapsulates that title as the new Solid State Meters, with AMR, that are now being used by Tombigbee Electric.

Most of us are familiar with the old-school mechanical meters that have been in use for much of the twentieth century. We’ve grown accustomed to seeing the meter readers, sent to our homes by our cooperative, who canvas neighborhoods to examine those electro-mechanical dials and record our energy consumption in a logbook. Back at the cooperative these readings were then entered into corporate records for customer billing - all of this resulted in labor-intensive, manual work that used up staff resources each month. Additionally these mechanical meters, with their magnetic floating gears, were subject to decreased accuracy over time.

Recent technological improvements in electrical power meter-reading systems such as the AMR, or automatic meter-reading systems, have changed this familiar picture. While not every cooperative has made the leap to more accurate billing and logging of kilowatt hour usage, Tombigbee has now almost completely phased out the old, and often unreliable mechanical meters with new AMR’s! The result will be a 99.95%-100% accuracy recording, no degradation of gears, and these new meters meet the The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requirements.

During an interview with Tombigbee Electric’s Engineer, Mark Carden, I sat down for an interesting hour of training, followed by a question and answer session on the benefits of the Solid State AMR meter system.

This article will be one of several presented to our readers so that new technological advancements at TEC can be described and discussed in an informational format.

How does a meter work?

MECHANICAL METERS:
Meters are hooked up to power lines through the Source Side, which allows the electricity to flow in through the meter, and the Load Side, which allows the electricity to flow back out.
The old mechanical meters read this flow of energy through gears that turn when 35 watts of electricity is detected. These gears turned the electro-magnetic dials which allowed meter readers to log energy consumption. Mechanical meters have an accuracy rate of 97-99% and, being mechanical, they are subject to failure.

SOLID STATE (AMR SYSTEM) METERS:
Meters are hooked up to power lines through the Source Side, which allows the electricity to flow in through the meter, and the Load Side, which allows the electricity to flow back out. Energy use is read via a circuit board transformer, formerly referred to as a “turtle” because of its appearance. The transformer channels information via the power line directly to Hunt technologies, then relays it to the Milsoft Dispatch software that runs on in-house servers at Tombigbee.
These meters, with no gears to fail, are 99.95-100% accurate. You pay for EXACTLY the amount of electricity that is used... no more, no less.

How do Automated meter readers (AMR’s) benefit TEC members?

• SEE HOW MUCH ELECTRICITY YOU USE - Any customer that wants to inquire about their energy usage by simply phoning our office. The staff can pull up that information digitally and our member-owners can see exactly how much electricity they are using per day.
• OUTAGE CONTROL - The AMR meter will report to us that it is out of power. A computer in the substation knows if a meter is on and working. That information is sent into our office and can even be accessed via mobile devices like laptops or blackberries. This is one way we can help improve our service to our members.
• INSTANT OUTAGE REPORTING - Readings sent every 24 hours from your location to our monitoring dispatch.
• ACCORDS TO THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPAL - Cooperative Principal #5 refers to the open information and education that is given to member-owners about their cooperative. The AMR’s allow our member-owners to view and better manage their electric usage, and allows our staff to be more efficient.
• MORE PRIVACY FOR THE MEMBER - Since we can automatically get readings through Milsoft Dispatch we do not have to physically go out to a members home for readings. We will have to come out from time to time to replace a meter, but monthly meter readings will be a thing of the past once the mechanical meters are phased out of our system.

Do we still need to call in a power outage to the TEC office?

YES - The AMR meter reports any outage to Hunt, then to Milsoft Dispatch where Melissa Akers, Darlene Peoples, Mark Carden, or James Scott will be able to monitor the information. This Dispatch system was installed at TEC in December 2006 and - at publication - there has not yet been a opportunity to test the systems accuracy during a major storm.
In daily use it has shown to be working great. However we would like to stress that members should still phone in their outage to the staff at Tombigbee. Dispatch shows the exact house, phone number, member name and address.
- This chart, which comes in digitally to our office via Milsoft Dispatch, displays the daily consumption of power for each consumer -

Have there been any problems with new meters?

YES - The first 7,500 meters that was purchased and placed on the system had a slight problem with the capacitor. Those meters were recalled and have since been changed out. This problem was not associated with the AMR or Dispatch but only pertained to the meter itself.

What’s in store for TEC with AMR devices in place?

ONLINE ACCESS & ENERGY CALCULATOR
We will eventually have software in place for members with Internet service to access their meter information online at any time. An Energy Calculator will also be available within the next few months to better help our members lower their overall energy bills through efficient use of their power.
If a member does not have Internet access they can simply phone the office and ask our staff for a print-out of their usage.

View image of AMR report sample #1

View image of AMR report sample #2

View image of Energy Calculator online access

Please join us next issue for a continuation of this article on the Solid State AMR meters! If you have questions relating to this article please feel free to phone Mark Carden at 205.921.3025 X28 or email mcarden@tombigbee.net.