Press/Announcements

City of Metropolis, IL (METRO) Chooses OATI’s webSmartEnergy AMIoT™

Minneapolis, MN: October 27, 2020
OATI is pleased to announce that the City of Metropolis (METRO) has chosen OATI AMIoT™ for their new Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system. The AMIoT™ Head End system will collect, process, disseminate, and present electric and water meter readings from 3,500 meters across its municipal area. Central to this solution is the ability for the AMIoT™ system to read ERT meters. This capability enables the City to extend the life of their existing ERT meters allowing for a gradual meter replacement plan.
 
OATI webSmartEnergy AMIoT™ is an IoT-based AMI solution that utilizes a LoRa-based network for the communication backhaul, encompassing the non-proprietary Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) open protocol that provides bidirectional communications to the LoRa meters, and other devices, on the IoT network all orchestrated by the AMIoT™ Head End.

OATI webSmartEnergy AMIoT™ is a highly cost-effective solution that also offers great flexibility to support a variety of use cases beyond AMI. The LoRa network takes advantage of open wireless and messaging communication protocols that allows utilities to add a multitude of LoRa-based devices such as smart agriculture, asset tracking, distribution automation, load management, and other sensing and control devices on the same network.
 
Under this webSmartEnergy AMIoT™ project, METRO will deploy a LoRa-based, two-way communication network, across its territory. OATI will initially provide propagation services, in order to identify where low-cost LoRa gateways, which communicate with meters and other field assets in a “star of stars” configuration, should be placed for maximum read efficiency. METRO will be able to read their existing electric and water meters enabled with ERT modules through the LoRA network, eliminating the need to replace meter hardware, and reducing overall project cost. Concurrently, OATI will deploy the webSmartEnergy AMIoT™ Head-End solution, fully integrated to the customer’s Customer Care and Billing, and other solutions to communicate with and control the LoRa gateways, meters, and modules. The OATI webSmartEnergy AMIoT™ service will be provided in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, hosted within the OATI Cloud.
 
“We are extremely excited about the deployment of the OATI advanced metering infrastructure system,” said Mayor Billy McDaniel. Mayor McDaniel noted that the OATI and its service were chosen by the city for its experience in providing a top quality products and service. “OATI came highly recommended by our own engineers and other municipal officials we know and trust,” stated the mayor.
 
“We are happy to welcome the City of Metropolis into our growing list of AMIoT™ customers,” said Dr. Sasan Mokhtari, President and CEO of OATI. “We truly believe that this project will help set the bar for what advanced metering solutions can offer, from both a financial and technological standpoint.”
 
About METRO
The City of Metropolis, IL utility division is a municipal utility that provides energy services to approximately 3,500 customers. Throughout their municipal service territory, METRO serves approximately 3,400 electric meters and 100 water meters. Learn more at https://www.metropolisil.gov/.
 
About OATI
OATI provides innovative solutions that simplify, streamline, and empower the operational tasks required in today’s energy commerce and Smart Grid. Serving more than 2,200 customers in North America, OATI successfully deploys and hosts diverse mission-critical solutions committed to industry standards and stringent security guidelines.
 
OATI (www.oati.com) is a leading provider of Smart Grid, Energy Trading and Risk Management, Transmission Scheduling, Congestion Management, Distribution, and Market Management products and services. OATI is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with offices in California, Punjab, Telangana, and Singapore. For more information, please contact sales@oati.net.