Itron, Inc. has announced a collaboration with Utilismart Corporation, a provider of meter data management-driven analytics, to deliver end-to-end solutions to Canadian and U.S. electric utilities. Cooperative and municipal electric utilities can order Utilismart’s turnkey solution that consists of project management, cellular data and meter data reading services and secure customer web portals.
The collaboration between Itron and Utilismart bridges the gap between Automated Meter Reading (AMR) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Combining Itron’s electric cellular meters with Utilismart’s turnkey solution, utilities or consumers can benefit from the collaboration with the following use-cases:
- Utilities with an existing AMR system that does not provide the data necessary for complex industrial billing, such as interval billing data.
- Utilities with commercial/industrial customers who require daily consumption usage data and the presentment of that data for operational decisions.
- Utilities with AMR or AMI systems without voltage measurement capability who are implementing a conservation voltage reduction or volt-VAR optimization program by dropping in bellwether meters for near real-time voltage information needed for system control.
- Industrial customers who wish to sub-meter their processes and have that data collected and available in a presentment tool. As an example, a utility with a large campus facility or processes that operate as cost centers under a single utility billing meter. With sub-metering, they can enable cost allocation by cost center.
“This collaboration fills the gap that small-sized utilities are facing between AMR and AMI solutions and offers an alternative, fully hosted and operated meter reading and data presentment model that also addresses growing submetering needs. Now, utilities will have a complete data management solution that can support automation of business processes and present the information for enhanced business decision-making,” said Miro Karlicic, vice-president, business development and innovation at Utilismart Corporation. “Our work with Itron broadens our offerings, deepens our expertise and ensures that utilities have consumption data from each point of their distribution network.”
