Utilities that do not unbundle are being pressured to maintain rates, increase profitability, and optimize operations. Load aggregation by multi-site corporations, hospitals, and other institutions is empowering customers to demand lower energy rates and improved services. Traditional solutions no longer apply. In the past, utilities could simply build new generation to meet growing demand. Little information was required about individual customers or how they used energy.
Merged utilities are under pressure to increase value for their shareholders.
Utilities are attempting to protect and retain their commercial and industrial customers by offering special rates and services. Concurrently, new service offerings are being developed to replace or eliminate existing unprofitable services or reduce the costs of service to customers. However, the technological and telecommunications infrastructure necessary to collect, process and store data at regular intervals, generally 15 minutes or smaller, from individual meters is complex. Although the extensive information derived from such systems is of tremendous value to utilities, the infrastructure necessary to obtain it often is not considered to be a strategic asset by utilities and energy information providers. Tactics Many communications infrastructures are being used for AMR, including direct telephone or cellular connections and, more recently, a variety of LAN technologies linked to public and private long-haul WAN networks.