Is AMI Worth It for Utilities?

Image courtesy of Portland General Electric under Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.

In theory, AMI or advanced metering infrastructure appears to hold a lot of benefits for electric, gas and even water utilities.  Promised benefits include increased access to data for both utilities and their customers, eased transition to clean energy, and improved resilience and reliability, among others.  Unfortunately, after nearly 10 years of case studies, it remains unclear if these benefits are being achieved.

Downsides of AMI Deployments

While the benefits have been elusive, the 3 main downsides are crystal clear:

• Cost: Deployments often cost several hundred dollars per customer.
• Deployment time: Full deployment can take up to 10 years in some cases.
• Reduced useful life: Because the pace of meter technology is advancing rapidly, utilities will need to upgrade their AMI infrastructure more frequently to keep up with the changes and leverage new capabilities.

Unfortunately, the eventual result of these downsides will be higher rates for customers, as well as the opportunity cost for utilities of reduced investment in grid hardening, modernization, cybersecurity, and emergency preparedness.

The burning question is whether utilities have any optionality in this regard.  For utilities that have already begun their AMI implementation, it could be relatively painful to pump the breaks and pull back on these efforts.  And even more critical is what alternative options, if any, do utilities have?

So therein lies the dilemma.  The 30,000-foot choices are to go all-in on AMI, look at “non-AMI” alternatives like what the sponsor of the post linked to above, Copper Labs, offers, or do nothing.

Personally, I don’t think “do nothing” is a viable option.  But I also think the technological advancement necessary to reap the full array of potential benefits has a long way to go.  In the meantime, at least until more real-world insights are documented around AMI deployments, perhaps the best approach for now is to simply wait and see.