Austin Utilities in Minnesota is implementing end-to-end advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) based on the Aclara RF network to serve its electric, gas and water customers.

Missouri-based Aclara, a division of Hubbell Utility, is a supplier of smart infrastructure to electric, gas and water utilities around the world.

The point-to-multipoint AMI network will replace a manual meter-reading system and will support 12,000 electric, 9500 water and 11,000 gas meters for the combination utility. The utility selected the Aclara network because it could manage all three types of meters and offered the lowest total cost of ownership over the life of the system.

“Aclara’s AMI network will allow us to establish the infrastructure we need to efficiently and cost-effectively collect and manage data from all our electric, gas and water meters,” said project leader Tom Tylutki, electric distribution director for Austin Utilities. “Plus, the Aclara AMI network readily supports additional applications including distribution automation, methane detection and water system monitoring, which will give us real-time insight into events on our electric, gas, and water distribution networks.”

The network’s ability to interface with water and gas meters from multiple manufacturers was key to Austin Utilities’ decision to implement the Aclara RF network. It offers flexibility to choose the meters that fit best for various residential and commercial applications. For its electric services, Austin Utilities will deploy Aclara’s kV2c commercial and its family of I210 residential meters.

Data collected by the AMI network will be managed and analysed via the AclaraOne software platform, allowing the city to have a single repository for data from all meters. Another factor that figured into Austin Utilities’ decision was the ease with which the Aclara system integrates with third-party software, such as the billing and customer care application from NISC, which the utility uses.

Austin Utilities joins a growing number of municipalities that have embraced the Aclara RF point-to-multipoint technology to future-proof their networks. In recent months, Aclara has announced the deployment of its Aclara RF AMI communications networks by such water utilities as Austin Water, which services over a million people in the Austin, Texas, metropolitan area; the city of Dothan, Alabama; and the city of Elmhurst, Illinois.