Your guide to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for business
In every area of your business, knowledge is power. If you’ve heard of advanced metering infrastructure (also known as AMI or ‘smart meters’) and would like to learn more, here’s your guide to how it works - and how it could benefit your business.
AMI: A new direction for meter reading
Advanced metering infrastructure enables you to understand your business electricity use more than ever before.
Using a combination of advanced meters (or AMI meters), radio frequency communications points and intelligent metering software systems, a growing number of WA homes and businesses now have access to the benefits of this electricity metering technology.
How it works: An AMI meter records your business electricity usage in 30-minute intervals. That usage data is automatically communicated to Western Power to calculate your overall use or consumption - and the same data is generally available to you the following business day in My Account.
The potential benefits of Advanced Metering Infrastructure for business
Using the latest technology to streamline your processes and give you more transparency about your operations can be an advantage in any business.
Here are some of the potential benefits of AMI for your business:
- You have greater visibility over your electricity usage for your business. By examining your half-hourly consumption data from the previous day, you can pinpoint how and when power is being used within your business.
- When you track the daily electricity consumption of your business, its electricity bill will no longer be a surprise. If the metering data shows the business usage is higher than you’d like, you could make immediate changes to the operations of the business to seek to reduce consumption.
- Since an AMI meter can be read remotely, your business is unlikely to receive an estimated bill in the future.
If you already have a smart meter at your business premises, now could be the perfect time to make sure you’re making the most of your AMI data.
How to find and use your AMI data
The first step to tapping into the potential benefits of smart metering technology is to make sure you register your business for My Account, if you haven’t already.
Once you have signed up for My Account, here’s how to find and understand your AMI data.
Step #1: Log in to My Account
If you have an advanced meter or you’re new to My Account, you might like to take the My Account tour. You can use this to learn about the features of your smart meter and how you can use it track your electricity usage, which could help you reduce your bill.
Step #2: Check out your usage dashboard
Within My Account, navigate to the ‘Usage’ tab.
We’ve added a new dashboard to show an overview of your daily usage and metering data. This has been designed to help you better understand your electricity costs throughout the day, to help you take control of your electricity use.
Step #3: Explore your AMI data
Navigate to the ‘Interval data’ tab. You can choose a range of dates to show your available AMI data for that time. You can also choose which meter you’d like to see data for, if you have more than one.
In this section, you can see the total cost for the dates you’ve chosen. Your billed consumption will show as blue bars, unbilled energy consumption as grey bars, and if you have solar, solar exported to the grid is represented as a yellow line.
Step #4: Dive into the details of your AMI data
Click on a day on the graph to view your half-hourly data.
This will show your electricity usage for each half hour, and any solar you’ve exported to the grid if this applies. Hover over each bar to see detailed information about your consumption and if applicable any solar energy exported.
You can also use the tabs across the top of the dashboard to see your electricity usage history overview by month, a cost overview chart, and a usage summary table to see your number of billing days, average daily usage, total usage for the period and other information.
You can click ‘Export’ to save the graphs as a .jpg or .png file for your next team meeting - or view detailed information in table form by clicking the table icon in the top left hand corner of the dashboard. You can even export this data showing half-hourly or daily intervals in CSV or Excel format.
Step #5: Use your AMI data to drive energy efficiency
Now that you have access to your AMI data, you can use it to enjoy more visibility over the way your business uses electricity.
When you view and track your AMI data on a regular basis, you can take action as needed. For example, if you notice an unusual spike in activity, reflect on what was happening in your business and how you could manage this in future. This could help you to find new ways to be more energy efficient - and avoid any surprises when you get your next electricity bill.
As you get more familiar with your AMI data, you’ll be able to identify patterns in relation to other business metrics. For example, you might find higher electricity usage correlates with busier trading days, or on warmer or cooler days when your air conditioning could be working harder for longer.
Here’s an example:
In the graph above, this business could consider if it could shift some of its electricity consumption to the middle part of the day to consume the solar energy their solar system is producing, rather than drawing from the grid.
Being aware of your electricity usage by using AMI data can help you plan ahead and budget for your electricity use as part of your business management.
How to request an advanced meter
If you would like to take advantage of the potential benefits of AMI, you can request an advanced meter if you don’t have one already. Please note, if you request an advanced meter before your existing meter is due to be replaced or upgraded by Western Power, you will need to pay a meter exchange fee. The meter exchange fee doesn’t apply if an advanced meter is installed by Western Power to replace a faulty meter or a meter at the end of its life.
Learn more about how AMI meters could help your business better manage its electricity consumption.
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