Where is ?Value for Money? in Electronic Meter Reading Technologies

Evaluating Bar Coding, ?GIS , GPS,? GPRS and Field Printer Technologies for WSPs.

Reading meters accurately, regularly and efficiently is a key goal for all WSPs (Water Service Providers) that aim to fulfill their mandate to the consumers respectably.? However, not many WSPs have the resources? to install the easier to use, (and expensive) Automatic Meter Reading or even Prepaid Meter Reading systems. Indeed, ?most WSPs depend ordinary analog meters for metering. These are affordable and dependable, but come with the main challenge that they must be visited, ?and ?read every month for the customer bill to be prepared.

Wise WSP management today recognize that taking meter readings on a piece of paper, then keying these manually to the billing system? is cumbersome, slow and expensive, not forgetting also prone to errors.? They ?therefore seek to utilise handheld meter reading devices (handheld computers also called data loggers) to improve the efficiency of the meter reading operation, and reduce the errors associated with paper based readings.

Many new features have now become available in the handheld computers,? adding to the ways that WSPs can potentially squeeze more functionality out of the devices. In this discussion, we? explore the viability of Bar code technology, Mobile printers, GPRS (or other data options), GIS and GPS? features.? We hope this will assist? ?WSP management in deciding which of these ?options are worth paying for in their data logger acquisitions.

First of all, the data logger or mobile computer is a device equipped with the necessary software to enable the reader to take meter readings electronically. These readings are then transferred to the billing system in seconds, saving time of keying-in, ?and eliminating associated data transcription errors. A well designed software will also enable the readings to have fewest number of errors, by validating the readings as they are taken. Other benefits include huge savings in paper costs, from printing to storage.

Indeed a WSP utilizing electronic meter reading can serve many customers effortlessly, while still relying on the analog meters. Compared to paper based readings, data loggers even without the extra features below result in a major leap in WSP efficiency.

Bar coding is the labeling of assets or products ?with specially printed lines (bar codes) designed for easy machine reading. Bar coding is widely used on goods that are sold in
supermarkets for fast checkout.

The numbers that the meter readers rely on to identify a customer connection ? usually meter numbers or connection number, are not always easy to read, less so as the infrastructure ages.? They may fade or not be visible by the reader.?? If bar codes are also added to the numerical labels, the reader will simply to scan the bar code, and enter the reading, instead of struggling to read the identifying numbers.

For WSPs use, bar codes can therefore be very effective in assisting faster and error free reading of meters. Errors will be minimized because the reader will also not confuse any connection with another.? Reading a matrix of meters especially at flats and commercial establishments will be easy ? simply scan and enter reading.

Another attraction to? bar codes is that generating them is very inexpensive, even the weather proof ones that would be required in the WSP environment.

The only significant cost in bar coding is the cost of the bar code scanner in the logger, but even this is marginal relative to the cost of the data logger.

4 ? GPRS ?- General Package Radio Service(and other data connections)

With a data connection linking the logger to the office,? it?s possible ?to? key? data directly to the ?computers in the office. ?In this case, the reader keys the data on the mobile computer,? but this data is relayed on the databases sitting in the office.

Online benefits : What are the benefits of keying data directly? The main one is that all the data is always secure at the WSP office. Secondly, management could monitor the progress of the meter reading operation, or the movement of the individual meter reader as work is happening. ?With GPS (see below) the connection can be used to continuously locate the device.

Challenges and costs:? Working online on a mobile telecommunications network is not always reliable or fast, and so meter reading may be slowed down and be prone to interruptions. ?Therefore, the devices would still need to have an? ?offline? capability,? where data is stored on the logger. The cost of the connection include that of bandwidth, and the management system required to support online transactions from all the devices.

Is SMS an option? Instead of online data, ?use of SMS (short message service) to send the readings from the logger is tempting.? However, plain SMS may not be interactive or? robust enough for business communication. Further, each message is limited ?to 160 characters, hardly sufficient for all the data required from the field.

5 ? ?Mobile Printers and Spot Billing

Every WSPs must get a way of getting the bill to the customer. The normal route ?is to print the bill and then post it.? Some WSPs are able to save the cost of posting by utilizing the meter readers to distribute the bills as they take new readings.

With a mobile printer linked to the mobile computer,? it?s possible to issue a Spot Bill ? after taking the meter reading, the reader can print a bill ?on the spot? to the customer. This option is attractive for 2 reasons. First the customer has immediate knowledge of what he?ll be expected to pay, and secondly, the cost of posting the bill is removed.

Cost limitations: The practicality of mobile printers is limited by the cost of the printer. Good field printers cost almost as much as the handheld computer. They will also break down more often, as will all printers. ?In addition, the mobile printers use thermal technology, whose printouts fade out quickly. Lastly, the ?printouts are small, ?and therefore not easy to manage? for the customer,? more so for the business and corporate customers.

Spot bills may be more acceptable where home letter boxes are used instead of post office boxes, because the bill can be dropped in the box in the absence of the customer.

Consider SMS: In place of mobile printers, we recommend use of SMS ?billing to send advance notification to customers. This will increasingly be advantageous as use of mobile phones becomes universal among customers.

6 - GPS -? Global? Positioning System.?

GPS is a technology that reports the physical position of it?s bearer.? A GPS equipped mobile computer would therefore be able to report its exact location, more importantly when in use by the reader.

There are several possible uses of GPS in a meter reading device. First is to ensure that the meter reader is actually at the meter which he is reading. This is relatively easy where the positions of the meters are already known. Another is to capture the movement of the reader within the meter reading route. Used judiciously, GPS can be used to improve the meter reading route planning and the meter reading efficiency. Finally GPS can be used to locate the Handheld device should there be need to do so.

GPS should not be on Handhelds alone: Besides the cost (GPS modules ?alone add 40-50% to the cost of the logger, not counting the cost of back office system), the other challenge with GPS is that the meters need also to be mapped accurately for the system to be useful, and the GPS must also work accurately and reliably.

7 ? Use of GIS- Geographical Information Systems.

GIS is the technology of overlaying important information about the WSP?s infrastructure and systems on digital maps.? Commonly stored information includes the pipe network, water intakes, reservoirs and even buildings. WSPs also can store the location of all the customer meters on the digital maps.

When meter locations are stored on the maps, the information can be used to manage the connections better. A natural use of this information is to plan the meter reading routes.

What about loading the maps with the meter locations on the handheld computers for meter reading? This is also possible.? The primary benefit of this is that Meter readers would be able to locate all meters which are on the maps.? When a new reader is employed, this feature can especially come in handy.

Not many uses for GIS on logger: To justify loading maps on all the devices, the WSP needs to evaluate the proportion? of? cases where ?meter not found? is reported by the readers, and balance this against the cost of deploying the GIS capable loggers for the meter readers.

If the cost of GIS on the logger is unjustifiable, we recommend the cheaper option of storing simple-to-follow ?directions? on the data logger. ?A possible tradeoff would also be to equip a training unit with the GIS and meter maps for training or verification purposes.

8 ? Combination Features.

The above features can be installed separately, in combinations or even altogether (at major cost! ). For example GPS and GIS can both be installed in the handheld. In this scenario, it will be possible in real time for the reader to enquire for directions to say a certain meter from his present location whenever stranded.

As pointed our earlier, GPS goes well when installed with GPRS to facilitate communication with the central office. ?Other combinations are also possible.

9 ? So which technology is worth spending money on?

Many quality handheld computers today come with all these options. While the basic mobile computing system itself? is well worth every cent, the question is what options are smart to order with the loggers for your WSP?

From the above discussion, it?s easy to see the many calculations? that the management must make before deciding which technology to incorporate with the dataloggers.

Certainly, field printing is the easiest to replace with SMS billing, and many WSPs may not find it easy to justify field printing. For the other technologies, everything revolves around a cost benefit analysis, and whether practical workarounds can be found at lower cost.

Suppose that in a WSP, 1% of the readings come with a ?not found? comment from a base of 20,000 meters. This is 200 meters ?not found?.? It may make better business sense to buy one GIS device and task a small team to locate these meters quickly, and document their directions, rather than equipping the GIS facility with every logger.

As another illustration, unless the WSP has already mapped the locations of its meters accurately, and installed capacity to analyse GPS information about the meter reading devices, there is not much use buying loggers with GPS capability.? It will simply be good money sitting idle in the loggers for their lifetime!

So be wise to use electronic meter reading technology,? and? be smart about it too !

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?

Nguru Kabugi

www.meter-reading.co.ke |? info@salient.co.ke

CEO ? Salient Technologies Ltd.

Source: http://meter-reading.co.ke/?p=268

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