Lake Mills Light & Water (LML&W) is in the process of upgrading to an Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for the electric, water, and wastewater utilities.
AMI is an integrated system of meters, a secure wireless network, and data management system that enables on-demand meter reading and enhanced utility services billing. The system involves the installation of new electric and water meters that can be accessed through a secure, private communication network. AMI meters record usage at regular intervals and store the data until it is downloaded.
Simply put, this means we are installing new electric and water meters that can be read remotely.
This will result in several benefits to utility customers:
· Meters will be read on a more consistent timeframe each month. This will reduce fluctuations in your monthly utility bill due to variations in the number of days between meter readings.
· An employee of LML&W will have to access your meters only once a year. This will reduce meter reading cost and concerns about people on your property.
· The new meters can be read at any time and the data history can be stored. This will help in the event usage at your house changes for no clear reason. We will be able to look back at the usage history and identify any unusual usage events.
·Because meters can be read remotely, we will not need to dispatch an employee to complete meter readings when tenants move in and out of apartments.
· The new state of the art meters have improved precision which means every customer’s electric and water usage will be billed with increased accuracy.
· When all meters are installed, the utility will have the ability to implement an “outage management system” that will help alert line workers to the location of power outages more quickly.
LML&W is implementing AMI to make the utility more effective and cost efficient. The ultimate goals of this system are to improve customer service and to have greater control over the utility finances.
The United States Department of Energy studies demonstrated that AMI and customer systems can achieve substantial grid impacts and benefits for customers and utilities, including:
· Reduced costs for metering and billing from fewer truck rolls, labor savings, more accurate and timely billing, fewer customer disputes, and improvements in operational efficiencies.
· More customer control over electricity consumption, costs, and bills from greater use of new customer tools (e.r., view usage online).
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Lower utility capital expenditures and customer bill savings resulting from reduced peak demand and improvements in asset utilization and maintenance.
· Lower outage costs and fewer inconveniences for customers from faster outage restoration and more precise dispatching of repair crews to the locations where they are needed.
Over the course of the next several months LML&W employees will be making the electric and water meter changes. Water department staff will contact every homeowner to schedule an appointment to enter your residence and change the water meter. Because the electric meter is outside and easier to access, electric department staff will simply replace meters as time allows. This will result in a brief power disconnection. The department employee will attempt to make contact prior to changing the meter and provide information on the new system.
We appreciate your cooperation!