AMI Resources
Advanced Meter Infrastructure
The Littleton Electric Light & Water Department’s new meter infrastructure is AMI (Advanced Meter Infrastructure). These new meters use similar technology as our previous AMR meters but provide more benefits to you and LELWD.
What Are The benefits?
- Power Outage Notification– AMI can detect power outages and will instantly send an alert which will improve restoration times.
- New Programs– Opportunity to develop and enhance innovative programs for all customers (EV, solar, battery storage, off-peak programs, etc.)
- Water Leak Detection – AMI can detect water leaks which will help you and LWD conserve and protect water.
- Customer Portal– Customer access to detailed information that will help customers better understand energy and water use.
- Customer Service – Both electric and water meters can be read simultaneously and remotely to provide real time usage data for customer questions and concerns.
- Environmental Stewardship- LELWD can read meters remotely and efficiently. We will no longer need to drive through town to collect monthly readings which will reduce emissions and traffic in your neighborhood. We calculated a fuel savings of almost 1,000 gallons of gasoline per year!
FAQ
AMI stands for Advanced Metering Infrastructure. AMI is a system that allows LELWD to be able to remotely communicate with electric and water meters.
Just like traditional meters, Advanced Meters record the amount of electricity or water consumed over time. They differ from traditional utility meters in that they have additional functionality including communications and memory.
LELWD Advanced Meters communicate using radio frequency (RF) transmissions, similar to the Wi-Fi in your home.
RF emitted by these meters is well below the limits set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and below the levels produced by other common household devices like cell phones, baby monitors, satellite TVs, and microwave ovens. According to Dr. Peter A. Valberg, “You would have to be exposed to an Advanced Meter for 375 years to equal the RF emissions you get from using a cell phone for 15 minutes a day for one year”.
The RF emitted by Advanced Meters is a very low-field and intermittent. In fact, LELWD meters are programmed to only transmit their data three times a day. With more than 25,000 articles published on the topic over the last 30 years, scientific knowledge in this area is now more extensive than for most chemicals. In-depth review of these scientific studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the small amount of RF energy produced by Advanced Meters is not harmful to human health.
The American Cancer Society explains the difficulty to prove or disprove a link between living in a house with smart meters and cancer because people have so many other sources of exposure to RF and the level of exposure from smart meters is so small. For example, the amount of RF radiation you could be exposed to from a smart meter is much less than RF radiation exposure from a cell phone. Therefore, it is very unlikely that living in a house with a smart meter increases risk of cancer. The World Health Organization has promised to conduct a formal assessment of the risks from RF exposure but this report is not yet available.
For more detailed explanations and information regarding RF, visit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) RF Safety FAQ page
Advanced Meters do not adversely affect the stability or performance of home wireless networks. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates all electronics to prevent one type of electronic equipment from interfering with other electronic and wireless devices that operate in the same frequency band.
According to the American Cancer Society, “One concern expressed is that the radio frequency (RF) waves produced by smart meters might interfere with electronic medical devices such as a heart pacemaker. A study that examined the effect of smart meters on pacemakers and implantable defibrillators found that the smart meters did not interfere with these devices.” More information can be found at: American Cancer Society Website FAQ page for Smart Meters.
This is completely normal, the meter screen toggles between the screen check (lit up) and meter info.