Bringing Aging Power Grid Into 21st Century: AMI

PIE&G is committed to providing our members with power that is both reliable and affordable. To continue doing that, we must make improvements to bring our aging power grid into the 21st century. Utilities across the state and country are facing a similar challenge, and we want to keep our members updated on what these coming changes entail.

One of the upgrades we’re considering is Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which involves installing upgraded meters on homes and businesses that are wirelessly connected to PIE&G.

Why do we need that? Because it allows us to serve you better, in a more cost-efficient way.

How so? Well, local forests have suffered disease and invasive species in recent years, making them more prone to damage in Northern Michigan’s high winds and during storms. As a result, power outages occur more often.

AMI allows us to identify homes and businesses that are without power immediately. This is especially valuable when nobody is home, or the service is a second home, cottage or hunting camp. We can use the information AMI provides to plan for restoring power and to give our members the most up-to-date information regarding estimated restoral times.

AMI means we can diagnose outages and plan for effective restoration efforts, which in turn allows us to better serve you with more reliable, less expensive power.

Yes, less expensive. We are continually searching for ways to minimize our costs, and AMI provides opportunities to do that. One of the most obvious is the ability to obtain readings without having to do in person, on-site meter readings.

AMI also provides a daily summary of our members’ power consumption, which means we can quickly answer questions and help them to resolve any problems they may have. It can be particularly helpful with seasonal accounts, allowing us to provide members with immediate feedback and a quick summary of consumption patterns.

We’ll be updating you in future articles about other efforts PIE&G is considering to better serve you in the 21st century. As always, our goal is to empower you—with both energy and information. Thanks for allowing PIE&G to serve you.