AMI Meter FAQs

Advanced Metering Infrastructure

→Learn more about AMI from the U.S. Department of Energy

NU began the initial project around 2002-2003, with the latest upgrade taking place in 2020-2021.

The new Honeywell meter system provides a much higher level of functionality, with features like enhanced data, remote connect/disconnect, and more.

Old mechanical meters only provided the total energy used, and were manually read one time per month.

AMI meters provide:

• Hourly energy usage
• Power quality (blinks, high/low voltage readings, power outages)
• Peak demand with timestamp (hour with the most energy used each day)
• Technical data for engineering analysis
• Energy delivered back to the grid by solar generation sites
• Tampering alarms
• High/Low voltage alarms
• High temperature alarms (can be an indication of power hazard-bad meter base)
• Remote connect/disconnect
• Pre-Pay metering

Of the 20,000+ AMI meters tested at the NU meter shop, the average registration is 99.99%, with no AMI meter testing outside the NU standard of 99.97%-100.03%.

TVA requires electric meters to be within +/- 2.00% accuracy rate. NU meters are within +/- 0.30% – that’s a 1.7% higher accuracy rate than industry standard requirement for TVA customers.

Meters that fall outside this range are returned to the manufacturer (if under warranty) or retired if the warranty period has expired.

NU requires a periodic, comprehensive field test for all commercial/industrial meter installations. Testing is conducted by an independent contractor, which provides complete site analysis far-above a simple meter accuracy test. 100 sites are tested each year on a rotating basis, with each site being tested every five years. NU makes every effort possible to ensure that our meters and metering components are accurate and functioning properly.

The meter manufacturer (Honeywell) provides test/calibration data for every meter shipped; NU takes an additional step to ensure meter accuracy. Every meter, new or old, that passes through our meter shop is tested in-house and documented before being released for installation to our customers.

Our meter testing equipment is tested/calibrated every year by an independent contractor who provides certification traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in accordance with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards.

The AMI system is a mesh network with 32 collection devices (“Gatekeepers”) strategically positioned throughout our service area. Meters automatically register to the network when placed in the field.

Meters may register directly to a Gatekeeper, if in close proximity, or they may “hop” through another meter(s) that provide a quality connection to the network (they may make several “hops” to connect in order to ensure the best reading).

Once registered on the network, electric meters periodically send data to the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper holds this data until a request comes from the Head End Server for the data to be sent via our fiber network. The server then sends all data to the Meter Data Management system (MDM), from which billing data is retrieved.