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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
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