Energy theft and customer fraud are enough to keep a utility wondering about revenue loss. Add metering and billing problems and this turns into a bigger financial headache.

Today utilities not only face Sarbanes-Oxley mandating accountability, but also AMR initiatives dictating the handling of voluminous amounts of data accurately. As a result, systems need to be integrated in order to quickly apply hourly and sub-hourly prices to usage to accurately calculate a bill while at the same enable utilities to analyze consumption patterns and flag inconsistencies to protect from revenue violations or theft.

Accurate h ourly statitical information allows city officials to more accurately predict demand and therefore more confidently negotiate pricing with suppliers as well as provide feedback for optimizing day-to-day system operations.

When last-mile wireless and wireline communications degrade or fail, critical informaition can be lost.  FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) requires that billing estimations error on the side of the consumer.  There are strict and specific rules for billing determinations. Therefore a loss of accurate metering information equates to a loss in net profit. 

Recovering failed last-mile communications is particulary daunting due to the remoteness and vastness of the network.  When a remote metering device fails, there is often little opportunity to isolate the cause of the failure, since upstream systems can cause, alter or even hide symptoms of trouble.

The critical need to acquire data at the end of the month or during shortage conditions adds additional stress and urgancy for recovering failed system components in the field and along the communications path. 

System architechs utilize lowest cost technologies in order to provide economically feasible solutions to data gathering needs.   These hybrid solutions are more complicated and less robust than simple multi-drop wirelines solutions of the past.   Successful management and maintenance of these systems require mulit-disciplined skillsets across various technologies. 

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