Advanced Metering Infrastructure Team
AMI Project Completion Brings Improved Service to Members
YVEA is proud to announce that it has completed a three-year project of installing new Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) throughout its 7,000 square mile territory. What started out as a pilot project in the fall of 2015 involving 500 meters served by the Airport Substation in Steamboat Springs, is now fully deployed at over 26,000 meters.
AMI is an architecture for automated, two-way communication between an advanced meter and an electric utility company. The AMI system allows communication between our offices, meters, and system protection devices across the electrical system, enabling reliability monitoring of system operations and evaluation of the system’s integrity
The function of AMI is to provide YVEA with real data about power delivery, power quality, and power consumption across the service territory. It also allows our members the information to monitor their own energy usage and understand how they are using their electrons. The new AMI system will, enhance power quality monitoring and accelerate outage notification, which means quicker service restoration and improved response time.
With many of the former meters reaching end of life, it made sense to improve YVEA’s metering system to a new metering system which enable us to reduce costs through automated processes. One of the primary cost savings was from the elimination of manual contracted meter reading services and the ability to more accurately bill members for their actual usage.
The AMI system is expected to recoup its costs within only seven years. Other improvements with AMI include a reduction in cost and time for connect/disconnect requests, improved outage response time, no longer a need to access member property by meter readers, elimination of estimated readings, and allowing members to have greater access and information to their own energy usage via the free SmartHub app.
The completed AMI project is one part of a multi-year communications and technology improvement plan designed to bring YVEA and its members into the 21st Century, increasing response times and improving reliability and faster communication between our offices, meters and system protection devices on the electrical system, enabling close oversight of system operations and increasing YVEA’s ability to provide a wider variety of customer program offerings.
Check out the video below: