AMR System Overview
Reduce costs, calls and foot traffic with real-time AMR meter reads
Meter readers handle a flood of data every day, and entering that data manually can increase the chance for human error. Making sure your data is accurate, on time, and analyzed is key to increasing cash flow, not to mention customer satisfaction.
Our Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) solutions let you automatically collect consumption, diagnostic, and status data from your water, electric, and gas devices and then transfer that data to a central database for billing and analysis.
We offer industry-leading SmartPoint® modules that read and store data at residential and commercial meters and at distribution points within utility networks. And we make the mobile, handheld, and network products that allow you to retrieve the data from these SmartPoints to bring it into your information and control systems.
SmartPoints are robust, high-powered radio-frequency transmitters that provide inbound and outbound access to measurement and other diagnostics. They are available for use with walk-by or drive-by automated meter reading systems and offer a choice of meter reading options. A hand-held unit can be used for reading SmartPoint modules or for manually entering visual readings by meter readers on foot. A more powerful Vehicle Gateway base station (VGB) provides greater range for vehicle-based readers as they travel past SmartPoint modules. The effective range of the VGB is measured in miles, not feet. When you return them to the office, these devices attach easily to your computers for downloading the data into your system.
And when you’re ready to upgrade to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), our solutions allow you to easily migrate your AMR infrastructure to our fixed-base FlexNet® communication network.
Benefits to you
- Lowers the cost of meter reading
- Provides real-time billing information, reducing estimated readings and re-billing costs
- Enhances employee and customer safety by reducing the number of personnel on the road and providing safer reading methods
- Reduces billing errors and disputes
- Enables flexible reading schedules, eliminating delays in summary billing of commercial accounts
- Increases cash flow by allowing quarterly or semi-monthly accounts to be converted to monthly billing
- Reduces customer complaint calls and increases customer satisfaction
- Monitors tampering and theft
- Promotes energy conservation and customer savings with time-of-use consumption
Benefits to your customers
- Reduces billing errors
- Increases confidence in service
- Increases information about usage and empowers customers to conserve resources and save money