Press Release Archive
Austin City Council approves cutting-edge
customer service initiative for Austin Energy
The Austin City Council approved today an initiative for Austin
Energy - the City-owned electric utility - that will result
in new, cutting-edge technology that will improve customer
service and save the Utility an estimated $1.3 million annually
in meter reading and associated costs.
The City Council approved a 15-year, $36
million service and meter purchase contract with SchlumbergerSema,
Inc. to purchase 60,000 state-of-the-art electric meters and
to retrofit 63,000 existing meters with wireless communication
technology. This will allow these meters to be read via radio
signal and eliminate the need to read the meters manually.
Austin Energy will install a majority of
the meters at apartment complexes - especially in the University
of Texas area - where high turnover by residents results in
meter readers making numerous visits to the complexes, creating
increased labor costs and inefficiencies in meter reading.
The new technology eliminates errors and misreads as well
as the need to estimate a bill because of access issues such
as locked gates or vicious dogs.
Wireless meter reading technology also enhances
customer service because customer service representatives
can see real-time meter reading data on their computers, allowing
them to give customers current data to help resolve billing
and meter reading issues. The technology also provides the
representatives with a customer's 35-day consumption history
to help the customer better manage their electric usage.
"This is part of our on-going efforts
to provide superior customer service in the most cost-effective
manner possible," said General Manager Juan Garza. "Our
goal over time is to expand automated meter reading to all
Austin Energy customers."
The initial cost for Austin Energy to purchase
the new meters and communication devices for existing meters,
installation and software integration is estimated at $8.8
million. SchlumbergerSema is responsible for all infrastructure
including radio transceivers, cell network devices, land communication
lines and network operation management. The annual cost for
its management of the system is about $1.5 million.
Austin Energy plans to initially deploy
500 of the meters as a test this summer and then install and
activate 10,000 meters a month thereafter with all 123,000
meters expected to be fully deployed by August 2003.
A number of utilities across the country,
including Puget Sound Energy in Seattle, Excel Energy in Minneapolis
and Kansas City Power & Light, use the wireless communication
technology in their communities.
For more information, contact Ed
Clark, Public Information.
Phone: (512) 322-6514
Pager: (512) 802-2000 |
