Electronic watt-hour meter with integral VHF transmitter: trial experience in the UK

This paper describes the trial of the TANGENT radio AMR system which is being conducted in South Wales, UK. This trial employs one way radio transmission from the meter to the central system with narrowband techniques within a new spectrum allocation for utilities meter communication systems centered on 184 MHz. Approximately one thousand `MTN´ electricity meters manufactured by Schlumberger in Felixstowe, UK have been installed by the South Wales electricity company SWALEC in customer premises. A network of four data concentrators have been installed in three regions by SWALEC and receive transmissions from the meters. A management system networks the data concentrators and provides SWALEC users with a range of information that can be accessed from a desktop personal computer. The trial system went live on the first of February 1993 and has run until the end of January 1994. SWALEC´s trial is the most extensive automatic meter reading system trial yet undertaken in the United Kingdom. The MTN meter used is the only communicating meter which is fully approved by the industry regulator `OFFER´ for billing purposes in the UK