The City of Thomasville is implementing significant upgrades to its utility management infrastructure using smart grid technology and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). These upgrades will provide real-time pricing, improved outage monitoring, and increased energy and water conservation for customers.
Assistant Utilities Superintendent Eric Gossett explained that AMI is an integrated, fixed-network system that enables two-way communication between utilities and customers. This system collects, stores, analyzes, and presents energy usage data, allowing the City to monitor electricity, gas, and water usage in real time. It eliminates the need for manual meter readings and enables faster response times in the event of a power outage.
Gossett further elaborated that the two-way communication model of AMI allows for more comprehensive data collection and remote meter management. “AMI can detect excessive water usage patterns that may indicate a leak so we can promptly notify the customer or make necessary repairs, rather than waiting for the next billing cycle."
The City of Thomasville has started installing these meters, beginning with commercial customers. This approach allows for a smaller, more controlled audience to test the accuracy of the smart meter readings and its analytics. While the conversion of traditional electric meters to AMIs is ongoing, the City is almost two years into installing AMI water meters and almost a year into the installation of new AMI gas meters. The next phase will be to start implementing these meters at residential homes.
Potential benefits of AMI include offering prepaid utility services for better energy conservation and potential monetary savings. “Smart meters, which are at the heart of AMI systems, record energy consumption and send data back to the utility company at least once daily,” noted City of Thomasville Interim City Manager Chris White. “This eliminates the need for physical visits and facilitates faster service reconnections and disconnections, another improvement to our overall service to the end user.”
AMI also helps to monitor energy usage patterns to detect irregularities that may suggest theft, and it can provide real-time data on energy production from distributed and renewable energy resources like solar power, allowing for effective resource management.
The upgrade to the City’s meter reading system brings many positive improvements and enhances customer service. AMI systems can help customers manage their energy consumption more effectively by sending signals to reduce consumption during high demand periods. Additionally, the City can use AMI data to provide customers with personalized energy-saving tips and recommendations, improving the customer experience.
The system upgrade will include updating the City's supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software. SCADA software is used by the City of Thomasville’s Utility Response Center to oversee all of Thomasville’s utilities. Investing in this technology is expected to improve productivity, cyber security, physical security, outage restoration times, analytical reporting, trending analysis, real-time telemetry features, and mobile system management.
According to White, "The City of Thomasville has a history of leading the state by investing in technology improvements to enhance operational efficiencies, system reliability, and customer service applications for managing utility services."
For more information on the advanced metering infrastructure upgrades, please contact the City of Thomasville at 229-227-7001.