Power Line Carrier (PLC)

Easily Transition from PLC to RF Wireless AMI

Early adopters of Power Line Carrier (PLC) systems were ahead of their time. These utilities were at the forefront of a movement that fundamentally changed the way meter data was collected. No longer did meter readers need to walk house-to-house, braving unruly pets, inclement weather, or sometimes even surly homeowners. Meter data was sent daily—over the same infrastructure that provided power for their members. PLC systems were an ideal solution at the time—but not anymore. Today’s utility faces a world that is more heavily reliant on big data and automation than ever before.

Our PLC migration action plan is the first step towards utilizing data more effectively, streamlining internal processes, and gaining better visibility and control over your distribution network. We’ve developed a proven PLC to RF wireless blueprint that simplifies the transition.

Read our Viewpoint: Key Considerations for Power Line Carrier (PLC) Migration

Proven plan for PLC to RF wireless migration

The foundation of our smart infrastructure solution is FlexNet^®, a long-range, point-to-multipoint licensed communication network that collects, manages, and analyzes data. With more transmitting power than any other network architecture, it is an ideal solution for rural environments with hard-to-reach meters. This robust and secure network infrastructure is a crucial piece of building a smarter more resilient grid.

The transition away from PLC begins by overlaying the FlexNet communication network on top of your existing infrastructure. This enables you to install new meters anywhere in the service territory without impacting your legacy PLC network’s operation. We’ve created several action plans that are tailored to your current operational or capex requirements—simplifying the migration. By using a systematic and controlled approach during the rollout period, you have the added benefit of being able to review current processes and adapt them to the new system in an organized manner.

Our proven blueprint makes it easy to transition away from PLC.

Both you and your members benefit from having a smarter, more secure, and more robust grid.

Benefits to you

• A step-by-step action plan for a seamless transition to next-gen AMI
• Timely data delivery allowing you to make informed decisions
• Real-time management of outages
• Fast, reliable remote connect and disconnect
• Manages the power grid of the future
• Integrate renewables
• Manage distributed generation
• Support for multiple applications including metering, alarms, outage management, demand response, distribution automation, phase detection, and street lighting
• Secure encryption of data
• Licensed Spectrum protected by the FCC
• Proven network to support current and future applications without stranding assets
• Enables the use of Conservation Voltage Reduction as non-intrusive load control

Benefits to your members

• Provides increased visibility on energy use to better manage their usage
• Delivers consistent, accurate information daily
• Allows for member-friendly, pre-pay programs
• Makes time-of-use rate pricing possible
• Faster outage restoration
• Increases awareness of restoration progress and time estimates
• Better overall quality of service