Thousands of energy meters are being read remotely and automatically in Oldham, leading the way for other councils to follow in the town's carbon-friendly footsteps to save money and energy.
No less than 2,500 council-run households in Oldham linked to district heating schemes, now pay for the heating they consume rather than a fixed amount. Some have cut their heating bills by 50% and saved council money thanks to technology developed by Sensus Metering Systems.

The Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) 'Sensus Scout' system enables energy meters to be read from a central office location using a fixed radio network, eliminating the need for manual meter readings



The 'Sensus Scout' has a transponder attached to each energy meter which forwards consumption data to GSM gateways and onto a central location using a repeater network set up to cover the homes.

Sensus Scout delivers real time information to energy providers about business critical issues, including leakage, broken pipe detection and tamper alerts.

Jamie Longman of Sensus Metering Systems said 'Bringing together advanced heat metering with AMR systems is clearly delivering significant 'wins' both for energy providers and consumers.

'We are currently working on a number of automatic meter reading projects in the UK and Ireland that enable utilities, water companies and their energy partners to read thousands of meters systematically through an unbroken and seamless data chain that stretches from the meter point via the IT system up to the billing process'.