Water Utilities Push For AMI And AMR Standardization

By David Hughes, manager of water research, American Water

Through research organization collaboration and teamwork, a number of major U.S. utilities are fighting for freedom of choice in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automatic meter reading (AMR).

In many technical industries, the interoperability of devices is commonplace. For example, buying a printer for your home computer is usually done without much consideration about how the unit plugs into the computer or what language the printer employs to engage the computer system. Such is not the case for obtaining meter readings from today’s AMR (via mobile radio collection) and AMI (via radio and cellular collection) systems. The water meter industry has made meters compatible with most AMR and AMI devices that collect meter readings. However, this is where most systems stop being compatible. It is not possible to easily take an AMR transmitter and match it to another manufacturer’s data collection system.

external devices such as acoustic monitors for leak detection, pressure and water-quality monitors, automated valves, and other monitors on the horizon, utilities have limited options. The reluctance shown by vendors to offer interoperability is accompanied by a parallel issue of standards in general for AMR and AMI devices. How manufacturers differ in their devices with regard to batteries, wiring, housing, and transmitting power is not easy to discern without a heavy investment in consultants, pilots, and the time-consuming acquisition of self-knowledge from multiple sources.

This is a somewhat alarming situation for a technology that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars with a promise of lasting 15 to 20 years and providing essential billing and customer service data. This issue was recognized by the Water Research Foundation. It generated a research project to investigate and look for a solution through its emerging issues program. The goals of this innovative Water Research Foundation project are to identify requirements and specification criteria for water utility AMR/AMI systems and to outline approaches to develop and implement standards that address water utility needs.

Collaboration Is Key
The project to assemble utilities, prioritize their needs, and look for a way toward standards and interoperability was granted to American Water and its Innovation group. From the beginning, investigative research relied heavily on utilities and their views on the most important issues in this area. Water utilities, including the City of Houston, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), Scottsdale, United Water, DC Water, LA Water & Power, and Las Vegas Valley Water District, are among more than 50 utilities that have been actively engaged in the project to date. The project’s tasks were made easier through the support of many utilities — they recognized that there needs to be a better way than to simply go back to the same vendor because the effort to change is made so difficult. The inertia within AWWA Standards to start such an effort and the view of most vendors to not change continued to drive the project in its development stages to rely on the collective utility knowledge and the research team to progress the work. The effort by the water utilities is not unlike the experience in the electric industry, where utilities provided the initial drive.

Nonetheless, opportunity has been provided for vendor input. Project co-principal investigator Ike Moss, from Khafra Services, a former executive for an AMI firm, reached out to vendors and interviewed those who responded during the time that utilities were prioritizing their needs for both AMR and AMI. Most recently, vendors were invited to a free open workshop at the Water Smart Innovations 2014 conference with additional webinars and workshops planned. Vendors appear poised to assist with the development of some standards, as there are clear cases where some materials (such as wiring and transmitter plastic housing) used by the vendors employ common standards. But it remains apparent that, to progress, standards and interoperability, utilities will need to continue to drive the effort.

To that effort, it is recognized that establishing criteria in a standard format will not be effective. What is envisioned is the use of a utility network that promotes communication between utilities; utilities looking to bid AMR and AMI systems would incorporate the standard language under development into requests for proposal (RFPs) that are issued. As this practice becomes more common, the specification language may become standard by default. With respect to interoperability, utilities will be instructing vendors that commitment to interoperability demonstrated within their bid response (including providing access to data to the utility and third-party meter data management vendors) will be a factor in bid evaluations.

The project team and project advisory committee have also been successful in identifying a potential sponsor of the committee, which will continue after the June 30, 2015 end date of the project that has been extended by the Water Research Foundation to allow the project to be sustained beyond its original yearlong run. A tie-in to the importance of interoperability has been recognized as a key component to advancing AMI and its role in water conservation. Utilities will continue to argue that the proprietary stance that allows vendors to maintain their current customers prevents growth into more advanced systems and prevents some utilities from entering the AMI/AMR field to the extent that is seen in other industries where open architecture and interoperability are encouraged.

Giving In To Demand
There are some signs of change that offer encouragement. A few vendors have indicated a willingness to open up their architecture. New meter data management system operators are gaining access to multiple AMI/AMR collection systems so that end data can be combined into a single system for the end users, the utility, and the water customer. There appears to be an increase in the variety of AMI-connected devices to improve distribution system operation that will increase the demand for choice among utilities. To date, many of the acoustic monitoring devices (with varying levels of cost and effectiveness) are locked into just one vendor, but this trend may be reversing. Customer shutoff valve technology and customer portal access are two new features where utilities will likely demand choice.

In the next six months, the project team is poised to continue polishing language to be made available for utilities, continue to build a network to allow utilities to communicate the language, and discuss other related issues and conduct webinars and workshops to help grow this effort. As a Water Research Foundation project, a written report will be produced, but the key output may be the continuance of the working committee and the resulting distribution of the specification language and push for interoperability.

The work carried forward by this project is not complete. It is highly recommended that utilities continue to work together and promote the completion of standards that can be readily agreed upon and communicated within the utility community. That operation should also continue to update vendors on the intent and resolve of utilities to drive the industry to a set of standards and the promotion of interoperability. The utility standards group (self titled AMI-ABLE) is expected to be set up as a working committee inside the Alliance for Water Efficiency organization (subject to board approval) in December 2014.

David Hughes is the manager of water research for American Water in the Innovation and Environmental Stewardship department. He works on numerous projects for the Water Research Foundation as an investigator and an advisor. He also serves on the Innovative Infrastructure Research Committee, a cooperative formed by the EPA, Water Research Foundation, and Water Environment Research Foundation.