Bringing electricity meter reading into the digital age
Spanish electricity company Endesa has been pioneering the use of intelligent networks to measure and control its utility tension meters. Find out how Telefonica's M2M mobility service has been combined with advanced AMR and AMI technologies to help Endesa dramatically improve the speed and quality of data from its meters, while driving down associated costs.
Customised solution for modern meter reading creates impressive results
Endesa is one of the world's largest electricity supply companies, providing power to 25 million customers. The premier utility in Spain, Endesa is also the electricity market leader in Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru. Its presence is significant in other Latin American energy markets, including Brazil, and in the Mediterranean region of Europe, especially Italy. Endesa has a generating capacity of around 40,000 MW from nuclear, fossil-fuelled, hydroelectric and renewable energy plants and, in Spain alone, serves about 375,000 natural gas customers.
Since the arrival of the utility industry in the late 19th century, companies like Endesa have manually read the meters tracking a customer's energy usage. It's a time-consuming practice that, in many cases, continues to this day. However, within the last three decades, the energy sector has been moving towards the use of telemetry, or remote tele-reading, for gas and electricity meters. These are based on one-way or two-way communication and generally referred to as automated meter management (AMM). Endesa has been at the forefront of this trend, developing intelligent networks for the measure and control of its medium-voltage meters.
The Spanish utility recognised early that advanced AMM technologies for meter reading help provide superior customer service. They can also streamline operations and eliminate redundant systems and tasks. Endesa had been reading its meters through the data broadcast technology GSM, but was finding this system expensive due to its 'per-use' charging mechanism. Additionally, low bandwidth connections and low modem capacity, combined with recurring bottlenecks in the network, meant the system was simply too slow.
Endesa was ready for innovation.
Advanced metering technology: AMR, AMI and M2M
In August 2007, the company announced it was deploying so-called third generation meter reading technologies; automated meter reading (AMR). Furthermore, as part of this ground-breaking system, Endesa would be incorporating Telefonica's machine to machine (M2M) mobility solution. The M2M platform - named World Machine - would be tailored to Endesa's specific requirements.
AMR has grown from a basic system to match electronically collected meter readings with customer accounts, into an advanced system that can capture, store and transmit all associated information. This includes:
- Capturing interval data
- Logging meter events (to use for energy or water usage profiling, demand response or remote shutoff)
- Relaying event alarms (e.g. leak detection, low battery or reverse flows)
Another piece of this evolving puzzle is the complementary technology, advanced metering infrastructure. AMI goes beyond AMR into remote utility management. Its networking technology of fixed 'smart meter' systems and remote devices often uses collected data based on programmed logic.
The light bulb moment: World Machine
Endesa pulls all of these parts together with World Machine, the M2M platform engineered by Telefonica for the communication of remote devices. Endesa now receives real-time information provided by its medium voltage meters. This is achieved through the use of GPRS, DSL (in the plants that move a great volume of data) and VSAT satellite communication for remote points.
With World Machine, Endesa is able to monitor and manage the status of its devices online. To further enable the gathering of data, Telefonica also developed a platform to supervise and manage, along with the meters, all of the installed equipment in the system.
The World Machine platform used by Endesa currently consists of 18,000 telemetry and remote control points, and is estimated to grow to 35,000 points. Endesa is planning to extend this system to all of the Spanish territories where it's operating: Andalusia, Catalonia, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands and Aragon, as well as the northwest of Spain.
Third-generation technology generates impressive results, draws widespread interest
In a relatively short time, Endesa has reaped the benefits of using World Machine in its advanced metering technology. These include:
- Significant savings with predictable costs by moving from per-use GSM calls to 'always on' GPRS networks with flat rates
- Improved customer service with anticipation of energy demands
- Accurate meter reading, no more estimates
- Improved billing
- Improved security for premises
- Energy Management through profile data graphs
- A reduced financial burden of correcting mistakes
- Less accrued expenditure
- Less time chasing call centres to provide meter readings
- Transparency of meter reading costs
- Improved procurement power through more accurate data.
Endesa's success with its cutting edge system has convinced other industry leaders that advanced metering technology is needed to improve efficiency. In fact, many European governments are now passing regulatory requirements to promote AMR and AMI. So the success of the project has proved far reaching and highly influential.
