By the summer of 2004, the Albany Water, Gas & Light Commission (Albany, Georgia, U.S.) will be reading all of its gas, water and electric meters via mobile automated meter reading (AMR) technology. Through a business arrangement facilitated by Hometown Connections, the utility will install Itron Inc.'s AMR system to download usage data to vehicle-based collection units from more than 94,000 meters.

A subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA; Washington, D.C.) and a licensed Business Associate of Itron, Hometown Connections negotiates lower purchase prices and service arrangements from industry suppliers on behalf of all APPA members. Albany WG&L is an APPA member.

Hometown Connections offers APPA members discounts on meter reading technology that allows any size utility to quickly or gradually expand into fully automated meter reading. For example, a utility can start with a handheld device into which meter readers manually type data. ERT (encoder, receiver, transmitter) modules can be installed on the meters to allow for radio transmission of readings to the handheld device or to mobile data collection units in a vehicle. Over the next 12 months, Albany WG&L will be converting some of its existing meters and replacing others with new units fitted with ERTs. The utility will then read the meters from a mobile unit located in an existing utility vehicle.

Lee Hauesler, assistant general manager, Albany WG&L, said, “We were struggling with a high-rate of turnover among our meter reading staff, spending large amounts of time training new employees. We were also losing revenue to theft and tampering, and we were looking at ways to reduce costs across all aspects of utility operations. When we approached our joint action agency in Georgia, MEAG Power, about automating the meter reading process for all of our residential meters, MEAG suggested we turn to Hometown Connections and Itron.”

As an official sales affiliate of Hometown Connections, Georgia's MEAG Power played a central role in helping the Albany WG&L decide to install Itron's AMR solution for all of its meters. “Our utility has enjoyed a long and trusted relationship with our joint action agency, MEAG Power,” Hauesler said. “When our friends at MEAG assured us of the best possible pricing on Itron equipment and pledged that staff members of MEAG and Hometown Connections would support the project planning and execution, we knew that Itron was the correct choice.”
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