METERING TECHNOLOGY

Territory-wide AMR Yield Big Results for Rural Electric Cooperative

Automatic meter reading (AMR) is more than a method to obtain a meter read; it's a vital tool for significantly improving customer service in the eyes of the consumer. In fact, the positive impact that AMR has on customer service is one of the top three reasons for installing AMR, according to the Chartwell AMR Report 2000.

Providing superior customer service is a key element for successful companies in the evolving utility industry. Advancing technologies, combined with consumers' expectations to pay less for fast and convenient services, drive utility leaders to constantly improve programs and customer relationships.

Consumers want to be in control and make their own decisions about their utility needs. Choice is becoming more important than loyalty to the product or company. The industry is facing a new business model in the customer-choice environment, and utilities are finding that AMR is the practical solution for excellent customer service -- and the key to consumer retention.

AMR affects customer service in a number of ways. It provides accurate and timely meter reads, speeds the resolution of billing issues and improves the reliability of services. In the end, AMR builds trust and loyalty.

Billing supervisors, line maintenance crews, system engineers, customer service representatives -- just about all utility management -- are discovering new ways to utilize data from some AMR systems to give better customer service, maintain the system, and cut line loss.

Good Customer Service Leads to New Business
Data collected through meter reads provides more than just a kWh total. Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power Association, which serves 5,000 members in southern Minnesota, implemented a power-line carrier AMR system with a focus on customer services. The territory-wide deployment of the Turtle® system also allows the cooperative to address several critical business issues.

The system, developed by Pequot Lakes Minnesota based Hunt Technologies, Inc., has improved members' quality of life because it eliminates the need for self-reads, which can be strenuous in a harsh northern climate. Members' high regard of the AMR program has increased loyalty and reduced the risks of losing members to competitive electric providers.

This loyalty allows Minnesota Valley to generate additional revenue through new services. Faced with a stagnant membership growth rate, cooperative leaders have found that business diversification combined with exceptional customer service is the key to building the utility's business. New offerings such as heating systems, monitoring services, cellular phone plans and loans are a growing part of the cooperative's business model.

The impact that AMR has on Minnesota Valley's operations -- and bottom line -- is dramatic. Since deploying the system, the cost of reading single- and three-phase meters has decreased significantly. Other benefits include:

• High-bill complaints have decreased from 20 calls per month to two.
• Site visits have decreased from 10 per month to approximately 4 per year.
• Cooperative employees no longer need to spend time reviewing billing variance reports.

Minnesota Valley has streamlined processes in ways that would have been impossible without AMR. Overall, AMR decreases operating expenses by about $38,060 a year.