Public utilities make strides toward automatic meters.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

First, the milkman went away. Then the door-to-door salesman all but disappeared. Now, the days may be numbered for another visitor who has passed through the front gate for years: the meter reader.

The reason is money-saving technology - specifically, Automatic Meter Reading modules that can instantly read meters electronically and report customers' usage over a power line or via other means.

Locally, several public utilities have made the move or are about to do so. Leading the pack is Lane Electric Cooperative, which expected to install the last of about 12,500 automatic meters this week.

The Emerald People's Utility District, meanwhile, is just beginning its move to Automatic Meter Reading, or AMR for short. EPUD is installing about 200 automatic meters in the Creswell area as part of a pilot project; if all goes well, the utility will make the switch with all 18,500 of its customers next year.

On an even larger scale, the Eugene Water & Electric Board is exploring whether to move to AMR for 90,000 electric customers and another 40,000 water customers. The utility figures it could get a return on its $29 million investment within eight to 10 years. The lion's share of savings would come from eliminating most of 18 meter reader and six field service representative positions.

Not surprisingly, some meter readers are less than enthusiastic about the possible changeover.

Loretta Huston, an EWEB meter reader for four years, said she likes her job because it allows her to work outdoors and stay physically active.

"I don't necessarily agree with automation," she said this week while covering a north Eugene route. "It creates more sedentary jobs and puts more people out of work. It's great to have this position because it gives people a chance at an entry-level job and then the chance to move up."

At Lane Electric, the far-flung cooperative expects to see a return on its $3 million investment in AMR within eight years - by eliminating four contracted meter reader positions and saving lots of gas and driving time across its 2,600-square-mile service area - said spokesman Dave D'Avanzo.

Lane Electric did an initial switch at its Dexter substation in March, and has since added automatic reader equipment to all 12 of its substations, D'Avanzo said.

The cooperative serves customers in or around Blue River, Cottage Grove, Creswell, Culp Creek, Dexter, Dorena, Eugene, Fall Creek, Lorane, Oakridge, Pleasant Hill, Veneta, Vida and Westfir.

D'Avanzo said Lane Electric may be the local trailblazer because of its smaller scale. Historically, however, the Northwest has lagged behind other parts of the country in embracing AMR technology, he said.

"This is kind of new stuff to us, but it's 25-year-old technology in the Midwest and Southeast," he said.

Unlike standard meters, an AMR meter is a digital device that displays a reading in digital format.

More important, an AMR meter has an electronic module that records and stores a customer's kilowatt-hour usage, peak demand and any interruptions in service.

AMR meters can relay that information via one of several technologies: radio frequency, coaxial cable, telephone or power line. Lane Electric has opted for a power line system produced by Minnesota-based Cannon Technologies - the same company EPUD also is working with.

A utility can typically access the information gathered by an AMR meter within six to 10 seconds. D'Avanzo said Lane Electric already has found money and time savings as a result of the switchover.

"We've thought we had a big outage and then looked at the information (coming in) and realized, oh, it's a single customer," he said. "Instead of sending out a four-man crew and vehicles, we sent just one service vehicle."

At EPUD, officials believe that AMR will improve customer service.

"If someone calls and asks why their bill is so high, we can take a look and say, `Oh, you really had a peak usage on Aug. 15,' ' said Jaime Cranmer, EPUD's customer service supervisor. "We're in a world where people want more information."

EPUD expects to get a return on its $3 million-plus investment within 10 years, Cranmer said.

The 500-square-mile district, a loop of rural areas around the Eugene-Springfield metro core, has five meter readers; the utility hopes to absorb those positions through attrition without requiring any layoffs, Cranmer said.

In Eugene, EWEB views the move to AMR as a question of when, not if, said Mike Logan, key accounts program manager. A switchover isn't likely to begin until 2009 or 2010, and could be pushed back further because of other large capital projects on EWEB's plate, Logan said. When the time comes, the utility would prefer to move to AMR for both electric and water meters, he said.

"It just makes a lot of sense to do this," said Logan. "The savings are just too good to pass up."