Installation of AMI meters to begin in January

Mississippi Power’s implementation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure is proceeding on schedule and crews will begin setting the new meters in the Meridian area in January.

In April, the Public Service Commission approved the company’s AMI filing which will provide the technology that allows meters to be read remotely, enhancing safety and reducing costs.

The $39 million project is scheduled to be completed by April 2020.

“Since receiving Public Service Commission approval, we have been focused on systems integration with the many Southern Company systems that provide accurate billing and network functionalities and designing the communications network here at Mississippi Power that will be the foundation of our AMI grid,” said Metering Services Manager Ricky Follin.

“We have successfully built our test and production environments as well as deployed our first batch of programming – our Customer Service System billing interface.”

The next step is to test the remote connect/disconnect functionality with meters installed in the company’s meter farm in Meridian while the meter mechanics are installing network gear in the Meridian area.

“We are working on systems integration, network build out and simultaneously designing and building our disaster recovery environment for emergency back-up,” said AMI Project Manager Donna Corr. “Emergency failover testing and business continuity planning will be part of our disaster recovery strategy.”

Aclara, the primary meter vendor, has sent the first two shipments of new production meters in preparation for installation by NexGen next month.

“We have accomplished much in a short period of time with a very small team,” Corr said.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy for more than 187,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. With nearly 160 megawatts of approved solar energy capacity, Mississippi Power is the largest partner in providing renewable energy in the state of Mississippi. Visit our website at mississippipower.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

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