Brief History
In 1972, Theodore George “Ted” Paraskevakos, while working with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama, developed a sensor monitoring system which used digital transmission for security, fire and medical alarm systems as well as meter reading capabilities for all utilities. This technology was a spin off of the automatic telephone line identification system, now known as Caller ID.
In 1974, Mr. Paraskevakos was awarded a U.S. patent for this technology. In 1977, he launched Metretek, Inc., which developed and produced the first fully automated, commercially available remote meter reading and load management system. Since this system was developed pre-Internet, Metretek utilized the IBM series 1 mini-computer. For this approach, Mr. Paraskevakos and Metretek were awarded multiple patents.
The primary driver for the automation of meter reading is not to reduce labor costs, but to obtain data that is difficult to obtain. As an example, many water meters are installed in locations that require the utility to schedule an appointment with the homeowner in order to obtain access to the meter. In many areas, consumers have demanded that their monthly water bill be based on an actual reading, instead of (for example) an estimated monthly usage based on just one actual meter reading made every 12 months. Early AMR systems often consisted of walk-by and drive-by AMR for residential customers, and telephone-based AMR for commercial or industrial customers. What was once a need for monthly data became a need for daily and even hourly readings of the meters. Consequently, the sales of drive-by and telephone AMR has declined in the US, while sales of fixed networks has increased. The US Energy Policy Act of 2005 asks that electric utility regulators consider the support for a "...time-based rate schedule (to) enable the electric consumer to manage energy use and cost through advanced metering and communications technology."
The trend now is to consider the use of advanced meters as part of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
Read more about this topic: Automatic Meter Reading
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