How to Locate EVs in Your Distribution Networks
Many electric utilities, experiencing stagnant usage and revenue, are looking to increase electrification by promoting electric vehicles. Cooperatives and municipal utilities also want to ensure their customers have access to the same high-tech offerings as power...
5 Utility Trends to Watch in 2021
In 2020 utilities dealt with a worldwide pandemic, an intense wildfire season, and an unusually large number of hurricanes and weather events. Utilities also coped with market and technology changes driven by factors such as an upsurge of renewables on the grid,...
5 Ways Utilities Benefit from Consumer Engagement
Recent trends have significantly improved consumers’ experiences with utilities. Advancements in the smart grid have increased grid reliability, offered quicker restoration/service times, and provided a healthier grid overall. In parallel, utilities are beginning to...
3 Fun Facts on Holiday Energy and Water Use
The worldwide pandemic is changing the way people are celebrating the holidays in 2020, but no matter where they celebrate or how many people are sitting around their tables, they still use energy and water. We normally look at topics related directly to metering,...
Stop 3 Water Loss Thieves Cold with Analytics
It’s difficult to accurately assess how much of the water that is pumped into a utility’s distribution system is lost before it is metered, but the Environmental Protection Agency puts the number at 16%, and some experts’ estimates are even higher. In any case,...
AMI Data = Insights for Water Utilities
More than ever, water utilities are investing in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) as they seek to improve their current operations and lay the foundation for a system that will accommodate future growth and technology advances. One of the immediate benefits of...
3 Tips for Success When Adding DA Devices to SCADA
Without proper preparation, adding distribution automation (DA) devices to SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems can be a utility’s own apocalypse. Let's look at how utilities can avoid communications glitches to gain situational awareness and...
3 Ways Utilities Use Truck Rolls to Gain Situational Awareness – and 1 Solution to Eliminate Them
Historically, electric utilities send linemen to the field to gain situational awareness by visibly inspecting wires to detect circuit anomalies. In many cases, linemen on these truck rolls find no significant problems before returning to the utility. This is...
4 Key Factors to a Successful AMI Project Rollout
Sometimes, the key to the success of an advanced metering infrastructure project is not the technology, but project management and implementation. The way an implementation is conducted can make all the difference in the world in terms of meeting success factors of...
Stop Wildfires Before They Start – For Less Than $10K
Every fire season brings new horrors and hardships for people living in dry or drought-prone areas. The summer of 2020, for example, bought apocalyptic fires raging in Oregon and California.
3 Reasons Point-to-Multipoint RF Networks Work for Utilities
Our century-old distribution system has aged remarkably well, but the centralized, top-down power system with electricity flowing in one direction is now outdated. A 2015 Department of Energy (DOE) report noted that 70% of power transformers were 25 years of age or...
Hurricane Havoc: How Resilient AMI Systems Help Water Utilities Beat It
Hurricane season rolls around each year, and headlines shout the number of people without power. But often people forget that when the power goes out, water and gas utilities are also affected. In 2012, for example, Hurricane Sandy affected more than 690 drinking...