Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

integrating consumers based upon the development of openstandards. It provides consumers with the ability to use electricity is an approach to more efficiently and provides utilities with the ability to detect

problems on their systems and operate them more efficiently. AMI enables consumer-friendly efficiency concepts like “Prices to Devices” to work like this: Assuming that energy is priced on what it costs in near real-time – a smart grid imperative – price signals are relayed to “smart” home controllers or end-consumer devices like thermostats, washer/dryers and refrigerators – the home’s major energy-users. The devices, in turn, process the information

based on consumers’ learned wishes and power accordingly

Ami refers to and stand for Automatic Meter Infrastructure and is commonly used in conjunction with articles about automatic meter reading. However AMI goes further than just the meter reading, and includes all the other supporting archiecture that utility companies have to put in place to operate a smart grid network. These include the various wireless network technologies like WAN, LAN and HAN.