Smart Meters and SAP AMI Integration for Utilities

Smart meters have been a controversial news topic during the last year. While the idea of monitoring and pricing energy usage by time of day as a means to foster conservation sounds good, in practice it's generated concern and even backlash. Allegedly inaccurate meters make the evening news, and consumers' lack of understanding of what the technology really means precludes a clear connection between their consumption and their meters.

While raising consumer awareness and managing expectations about smart meters will take time and concerted effort, one tool in particular stands out as being integral to that process. SAP AMI Integration for Utilities holds real promise for improved communication. It can be tied into billing to provide residential customers with more information about their energy consumption and resulting costs. It can be used to identify areas for improvement, for example by advising customers on ways to adjust their usage to decrease costs. Likewise, if the system detects a spike in usage, consumers could be notified and asked to identify the cause in order to understand, if not prevent, its future occurrence.

We're also expecting utilities to have to replace outdated systems with more sophisticated solutions that are compatible with unbundled services (and their associated costs). As regulators require a greater diversity of rate plans to support conservation, and as consumers come to expect utility options that meet their individual needs—much as they do from cell phone and cable television plans—utilities will need to measure, manage, and market their services in increasingly more granular terms.

You watch: we'll bet that 20 years from now we won't even remember how it was done before.