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An Introduction to AMR

1-17-2004file = amr101-1.ppt

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AMR = Automatic Meter Reading

What is it? Allows remote reading of utility electric, gas, and water

meters Via:

A network back to the utility A vehicle that reads the meters A handheld reader for “hard-to-read” meters on a manual route

Why do it? More reliable and accurate than manual reads Avoids estimated reads due to meter inaccessibility Safety reasons (animals, indoor meters, bad

neighborhoods) Cheaper - much lower recurring labor costs Estimating usage on a daily or hourly basis so that supply

can be purchased in advance at wholesale rates

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Lots of market left to penetrate

Only 10% of US meters read electronically 237 million meters in U.S. read manually & awaiting AMR

Gas utilities only 17% penetration 53 million meters in U.S. read manually & awaiting AMR

There is LOTS of room for new players

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A Few AMR Modules

Neptune Water Pit Solution

RAMAR Retrofit Electric ModuleItron Water ERT

Itron Water Pit SolutionItron Handheld Reader

Itron Gas Module

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The Major Players

Itron SchlumbergerSema DCSI Hunt Badger Invensys AMCP/Elster Neptune RAMAR Cannon 51 others

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Worldwide market shares

Itron44%

Schlumberger-Sema30%

DCSI14%

Hunt6%

All others6%

Source: Chartwell, Inc.

Itron54%

Schlumberger-Sema28%

DCSI10%

All others8%

AMR Vendors’ market share based on cumulative shipments through

2002

AMR Vendors’ market share based on 2002 shipments

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Market served & technology used

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North American AMR units shipped by technology in 2002

Source: 2003 Scott Report on AMR Deployments

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U.S. market share by year

Source: 2003 Scott Report on AMR Deployments

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U.S. AMR units shipped by utility type

Source: Chartwell, Inc.

Blue = Estimated values

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Favored sales strategy

Start with a walk-by system Handheld computer with a radio modem Read most meters manually, hard-to-read meters with

radio Only a fraction of the meters are AMR equipped

Move to mobile Uses a vehicle equipped with a radio modem Reads all of the meters Requires saturation (all meters are AMR equipped)

Move to a network Requires addition of “head-end” sites connected to the

billing center Very few utilities have gotten to this stage