1 An Introduction to AMR file = amr101-1.ppt

2 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

3 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

4 A Few AMR Modules Neptune Water Pit Solution RAMAR Retrofit Electric Module Itron Water ERT Itron Water Pit Solution Itron Handheld Reader Itron Gas Module

5 The Major Players Itron SchlumbergerSema DCSI Hunt Badger Invensys AMCP/Elster Neptune RAMAR Cannon 51 others

6 Worldwide market shares Source: Chartwell, Inc. AMR Vendors’ market share based on cumulative shipments through 2002 AMR Vendors’ market share based on 2002 shipments

7 Market served & technology used

8 North American AMR units shipped by technology in 2002 Source: 2003 Scott Report on AMR Deployments

9 U.S. market share by year Source: 2003 Scott Report on AMR Deployments

10 U.S. AMR units shipped by utility type Source: Chartwell, Inc. Blue = Estimated values

11 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