EnergyAxis®
AMR System Overview
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Presentation Overview
1.
Elster Electricity – who we are
2.
History and Experience
3.
The Elster AMR Solution
4.
Product/System Delivery Schedule
5.
Detailed Discussions on:

MAS Communications Server

A3 ALPHA Collector

REX Meter

RF Network Operation
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster Electricity – Who We Are
Elster Electricity, located in Raleigh, NC, is the former
Electricity Metering division of ABB Inc. and
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Elster Electricity is a subsidiary of Ruhrgas Industries
(RI), headquartered in Essen, Germany, which in turn is
now owned by E.ON a large German conglomerate (over
$35B in revenues).
In the USA, RI owns Elster Electricity, the former ABB
Water Metering group, and American Meter Company
(gas metering).
Together, we are the world’s largest
supplier of gas and water meters, and a
leading supplier of electricity metering.
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
History and Experience – We are not new to AMR
Our AMR, Load Management, & Distribution Automation
experience began with Westinghouse and extends over 35 years
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1960s Pilot-wire meter reading and Telephone AMR
1970s Encoding meter registers
1975-1980 EPRI trials of 2-way carrier and 900 MHz radio
1982 EMETCON power line carrier system introduced
1980s Solid state recorders & communications
1985 -1997 Load Management and Distribution control
systems (Carrier, Ripple, VHF & FM/SCA RF)
1990s TranstexT home automation (Telephone & CEBus)
1990s - Telephone, Cellular, CDPD, satellite and RF
communications solutions for C&I metering
1999 AMR Server data collection and enterprise meter data
repository
2003 EnergyAxis 900 MHz AMR system

Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
= Commercialized systems
Elster AMR Philosophy

Provide two-way options whenever possible

Favor meter data “from the meter” solutions

Direct electronic register reads

Billing data auditable at meter

NO intermediate pulse storage errors or network
computations

Integrate meters and communications for costeffective solutions

Provide Meter Information solutions, not just
“AMR”
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster EnergyAxis® System
Technology to Empower Utilities
Cust.
Info.
System
Billing /
Settlement
Systems
Work Order
Mgt./
Inventory
Engineering
and
Operations
Outage
Mgt.
System
Load
Research
Marketing
Services
Enterprise LAN / WAN
Large System
Coordination
(fut. option)
Data Collection
Systems
MAS-EE
AMR
Server
MAS
Comm
Server
Meter
Data
MAS
Comm
Server
Telephone / Cellular / Paging
WANs
Meters &
Communications
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Residential / C&I
Fixed Networks
MAS
Comm
Server
EnergyAxis AMR System Elements
MAS Data Collection
Systems
ALPHA Meters with
Communications
REX Meters with RF
Communications
Commercial,
Industrial, Residential
Residential, small
Commercial
Telephone or
Cellular WANs
Analog
Cellular
RS-232 with
CDMA/1XRTT
or GSM/GPRS
RS-232/
RS-485
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
EnergyAxis 900 MHz LAN
A3 ALPHAs with RF
Communications
Commercial / Industrial
Future Water & Gas with
RF Communications
NEW Elster EnergyAxis AMR System

Entirely meter-based AMR system

Residential, commercial, industrial Electric
solutions, future Water and Gas

Uses proven 902-928 MHz unlicensed radio for
local area networks and public Wide Area
Networks


New Elster-designed repeating RF “mesh” LAN
architecture
Elster MAS Data Collection systems on Windows
2000 PC platform can support up to 200,000
meters each
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster EnergyAxis AMR System for Residential

Integrates 900 MHz communications into REX and A3 ALPHA
electronic meters

900 MHz repeating RF LAN Solution for single-phase
Residential and small Commercial applications
Telephone
Future
RF WANs
MAS Comm Server
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster AMR Functionality - Commercial & Industrial
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REX meters for single-phase
Commercial available today

Polyphase ALPHA meters with
multiple WAN AMR options available
today

Polyphase A3 ALPHAs with repeating
RF LAN communications now
available for energy & demand
metering only
Public Networks
(Telco /
Cellular)
MAS Comm Server
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
3-ph A3
ALPHAs
EnergyAxis 900 MHz LAN
1-ph REX
Meters
Small Commercial sites, Strip Malls,
Shopping Centers, Large Industrial Sites
Public Networks
(Telco / AMPS / Digital
Cellular / Paging)
Single or 3-phase
ALPHAs
A Mesh Network Assumes Obstacles
C

Mesh networks were
developed for battlefield
conditions where units are
moving.

Every radio repeats every
message it hears.

This is chaotic and can
lead to interference when
units are fixed.
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004

Elster employs a ‘controlled’ mesh
where the Collector meter sets up
the meter/repeater network

Algorithms emphasize reliability to
each meter and allow paths to
change in an organized fashion
when needed.

Network configuration and
changes are transparent to the
operator.
Elster AMR System – Key Differentiating Feature
New Advanced Elster RF network
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Proven 900 MHz unlicensed communications
Intelligent 2-way communications to all meters
Mesh Network RF LAN architecture

Any meter can be a repeater

Mesh networks controlled by A3 ALPHA Collector Meters
 Architecture provides up to 7 Repeater Levels (8 ‘hops’ )

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Allows communications around obstacles… fewer coverage “holes”
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Expands Collectors’ coverage area… fewer units = lower costs
System Algorithms:
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Optimize communications reliability to each meter
Support Automatic RF registration for “Plug and go” installs
Allow Self-healing communications – Units will re-register via
alternate paths when local RF conditions change
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Cost-Effective for Both Targeted or Mass Deployments
High-cost, Hard-to-Access,
Dangerous, or High-Turnover Areas
Apartments
Student or Military Housing
Mass Residential and Commercial Areas
Industrial Campuses
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
New REX Electronic Meter

New, all-electronic single-phase Elster meter

Supports Elster AMR communications on main board

Utilizes unlicensed 902-928 MHz band
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Frequency-hopping spread-spectrum communications
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1/4-watt transmit power

Two-way communications support Scheduled & On-request
reads of any meter

ANSI 0.5 accuracy class (0.2 except at temp. extremes)

Forms 1S, 2S, 3S and 4S (12S in 2Q2005)

Voltage: 120 and 240V + 20%

-40° to +85° C rating (inside the meter)

Class 20, 200, or 320 self contained
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster AMR System – Key REX Features


REX meter supports flexible rates without costly
equip-ment changes or site visits. Any meter
can measure:

Energy (Delivered, Received, Sum, or Net)

TOU (4 Tier, 4 Season Energy)

Demand (Total + 1 Tier or 2 Tiers)

Real-Time / Critical Tier Pricing at any time

15, 30 or 60 minute Load Profiling
NO batteries needed for TOU or LP functions in
most meters… time is kept by system and
Collectors


Lowers initial meter cost
Eliminates battery maintenance
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster REX Meter – Other Key Features

Tamper Detection

Outage / blink counts

Reverse energy always metered
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Meter failure statuses
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End-point Voltage data
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Utility-specific LAN ID in each meter allows
overlapping service territories without
operational conflicts

Optional 200 A. Service Disconnect internal to
the REX meter with demand limiting capability

Outage and Restoration data
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
A3 ALPHA with 900 MHz LAN Board

A3 Nodes provide polyphase AMR metering
functions with LAN operation similar to REX

Units can function as an RF network repeater and
can reside on same Collector networks with REX
meters
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Currently available in Form 12S

Forms 9S, 16S, 35S, 36S to be available 1Q2005

Limited initial functionality

kWH energy and kW demand metering only

Future units will support TOU, LP, Reactive
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
A3 ALPHA Collector Overview

A3 Collectors can be either single-or polyphase meters
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Meets ANSI standards, including C12.18, 19 & 21
Consists of A3 ALPHA meter with 2 internal boards:

WAN: Available with internal telephone outage modem;
optional external CDMA or GSM cellular modem, other future
RF options
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LAN: 900 MHz RF Internal LAN Controller Board (ILC)
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Manages LAN of up to 1,024 meters, including autoregistration and re-registration processes

Includes a Lithium TOU battery to maintain LAN system
time, which is broadcasted periodically to all AMR meters in
the RF LAN

Maintains current and optional TOU Tier schedules for
downloading to REX meters (up to 8)
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster AMR System – Future Flexibility
EnergyAxis system adaptable for:
 Broadcast messaging
 In-home communications
 Energy Management & Load Control
 In-home Display for customer messaging (Rates, kWh, kW, $)
 Pre-pay metering services
 Home Automation features
 RF or PLC communications
 REX unit supports up to 3 option boards
THERMOSTAT
CONTROL
In-home Display
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
72
Elster AMR System – Future Gas & Water AMR
Elster EnergyAxis RF LAN will support RF AMR
modules for Gas or Water meters or other devices

Units will operate one-way inbound to extend battery life

Latest REX can store up to 8 gas or water messages for
forwarding to Collector

Battery powered AMR Module development has begun
with Elster sister companies AMCO Water and AMCO
gas metering

Prototype field test units will be deployed later this year

Expected commercial release in 2Q2006 (water) and
2007 (gas)
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster EnergyAxis Systems Experience

Development started in 2000

Field Testing started in 2002

227 REX Meters and 3 Collectors
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System announced commercially in July 2003

Elster has placed hardware at over 35 utilities
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IOUs
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Public power

US NW, SW, SE, International

All installed systems are running at 100%
success for daily reads

Several Trial systems now being expanded

SRP announced 125K unit expansion 10-04
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Test Network Showing Repeater Levels
All 227 REX meters
registered
using
5 hops
All 227 REX
meters
(4 Repeater
levels)
registered
using
7 hops
(6 Repeater levels)
Active
Collecto
r
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
2000 ft.
Active
Collecto
r
Alternate Collectors
Salt River Project Installation
470 Meters
.5 mi.
230
Apartments
120
Single Family
Residences
Apartments
120
Patio
Town homes
Single-family
Residences
• Verified operation with
stucco over wire
construction
• Demonstrated highly
reliable daily AMR
reads
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Townhouses
Portland General Electric
Installation Planning for Backbone System Test
(approx. 1200 Meters over 12 sq. miles)
Testing networks of 80-120
REX meter/repeaters per
square mile
using 1 Collector per
square mile grid
System will Provide ability to install AMR or TOU meter
anywhere within the backbone network.
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Orlando Utilities – 480 Meter Apartment Complex
5 meters in
Test Shed
0.5 mi.
2300 ft.
Apartment Complex
with 480 Meters
Collector
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
OUC EnergyAxis System Expansion
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster System Benefits – Metering Operations
Reduce or eliminate:
 Manual meter reading costs
 Meter reading errors
 Site-related personnel injuries and liabilities
 Out-of-cycle manual reads for:
 Move-outs / Move-ins

High turnover areas (apartments, military, colleges)

Estimated Reads at hard to access / Dangerous sites

Bill complaints requiring read verification
 Costs of service disconnect/connect
 Allows Virtual or hard disconnect without visits

Possible extension to prepay system
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster System Benefits – Metering Operations

Reduce costs of changing metering requirements

Energy, Demand, TOU, RTP, LP… selectable at any time
 Allows truly random selection of load and rate research
meters
 Eliminate site visits to change meter to match needs
 Eliminate site visits to update TOU calendar/schedules
 Greatly reduces cost of TOU battery change-outs

Reduce lost revenue through early detection of
meter tampering and alarms
 Reverse energy monitoring / summed energy
 Outage counters
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster System Benefits – Rates/Load Research
 Eliminates cost of buying special purpose
meters for load research
 Eliminates expense of moving meters when a
new sample is required
 Allows truly random selection of load and rate
research meter locations
 Allows new rates to be developed and applied
without site visits
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster System Benefits – Distribution Operations
System Outage and Restoration data
 Verify non-restored power areas for crew dispatch
 Outage / Blink counts can pinpoint faulty equipment
 System Demands
 Since all meters measure with time synchronized
demand, it is possible to summarize demands for
transformers, line segments, feeders, etc.
 Voltage monitoring
 Improve customer service in low voltage areas
 Improve system efficiencies due to lower system losses
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Maximizing Your AMR Investment

Buy from a stable supplier that invests in R&D to support
and upgrade their AMR systems

Look for systems with increasing value and functionality
Advanced features
Connectivity
Other Utility Metering
DSM
C&I
In-Home
CTP Display
Residential
Alt WAN
A3 Node
CL 320
200A
Disc
kWH, kW,
TOU, LP
2003
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Fm 12S
Water
Gas
2007
Summary of Utility Applications
The Elster 900 MHz Mesh Network AMR System is
designed for:

Urban and Suburban service areas… not rural

Targeted AMR with high metering costs

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Hard to Access meters

High turnover areas

Hazardous areas

Service Disconnect applications
Full scale AMR - when higher functionality is
needed or anticipated

Residential and Commercial metering

Energy, Demand, TOU, or Critical Tier rates

Load Profile data

Gas and/or Water AMR
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Elster Product Release Schedule
 AMR system available today with:
 Form 1S, 2S, 3S, 4S REX meters w/ RF LAN
 Form 2S Class 320 REX
 Form 2S with Integral Service Disconnect
 Single- and polyphase A3 Collector Meters with
Internal Telephone or external Cellular WAN
& RF LAN
 MAS 5.1 Communications Server
 Form 12S REX
2Q2005
 A3 ALPHA with 900 MHz LAN Card
4Q04 -3Q05
 MAS 5.5 – A3 Node support for TOU
Load Profile
4Q2005
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004
Electricity Meters and Systems
Discover the value of the diamond
Proprietary and Confidential to Elster Electricity, LLC.
Not to be copied or reproduced without Elster’s written consent.
© Elster Electricity, LLC – November 2004