The utility of data

American City and County: Just 15 minutes pass between each electricity usage data transmission that College Park (Ga.) Power automatically receives from each of its electric meters.

About two years ago, city vehicles had to drive near the meters to collect usage data, according to College Park Power Director Hugh Richardson.

The change is due to the city’s new advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. AMI systems let public utilities automatically gather water, electricity and gas usage data more often than past technology allows. AMI also saves money on meter checking and helps utilities fix outages and leaks more quickly.

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