Utilities bullish on meter-reading technology
By the end of 1996, the 400,000 customers of Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCPL) will have their electric meters read by a real-time wireless network that will relay electrical consumption readings back to computers at the utility`s customer service office. KCPL`s executives believe the new radio and cellular network will greatly improve the company`s ability to control its power distribution, manage its load requirements, monitor outages, and in the near future, allow time-of-use and offpeak pricing. The KCPL system represents the first systemwide, commercial application of wireless automated meter reading (AMR) by a U.S. utility. The article also describes other AMR systems for reading water and gas meters, along with saying that $18 billion in future power plant investments can be avoided by using time-of-use pricing for residential customers.
- OSTI ID:
- 229900
- Journal Information:
- Fortnightly, Vol. 133, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: 15 Jan 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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