Know Exactly When, Where And How Much Energy You Use

Understanding your energy use is the first step in controlling your energy costs and lowering your electric bill. With Ameren Abacus™, you can have the energy use information you need for all your locations at the push of a button. Since the information is made available through the Internet, if other decision-makers need to see this data, too, they can get it easily-anywhere in the world.

Abacus gives you the critical information you need to identify your energy use patterns and make operating decisions that minimize your energy costs. If you have several departments or tenants, you can also use Abacus to allocate electricity costs. This added accountability may allow changes in usage to lower your electric bill even further.

Information Is As Close As A PC...Anywhere

Abacus makes monitoring your energy use easy. Simply use any Web browser to access the Ameren Abacus site on the Internet. Log in by entering a user ID and password, and historical usage data for any of your facilities can be viewed directly on your computer screen.

Design Easy-to-use, Custom Reports

Your usage reports can be displayed in either graphical or table form. Flexible, custom reporting enables you to look at the prior day, week, or month, and to summarize meters to check yesterday's energy use.

Each user can develop specific reports, graphs and charts that will be available every time the user signs on. This feature allows usage to be summarized and displayed by user specified parameters. Energy usage associated with a process across multiple locations, usage associated with HVAC requirements, and usage for compressed air are just a few of the possible user specified reports available. Because Abacus uses wireless technology, it is easy to subdivide energy usage by installing extra wireless meters and transmitters.

It's Wireless and Secure

In 1995, Ameren began installing a wireless meter reading system that would eliminate manual reading of electric meters. Using a radio frequency and transmitters attached to individual meters, the system allows meters to be read remotely-on much the same principle as a cellular telephone. The wireless system, provided by CellNet Data Systems, transfers all meter readings into a database at Ameren's headquarters on a daily basis.

Ameren has maintained a site on the World Wide Web since 1995 (http://www.ameren.com). By using the latest computer technology, Ameren created Abacus by providing secure links from the Internet website to the Abacus meter database. Registered users of Abacus simply access the Abacus section of Ameren's website, enter their user password, and explore the information on their accounts.

Unlimited Geography

Locations not in Ameren's territory can also use Abacus. In such cases, the latest computer technology is still used to read remote meters around a facility, but instead of reporting those readings over a wireless system, a telephone line can be used to report the readings to Ameren's database. The data then looks like any other Abacus data, and can be summarized, charted, or graphed, along with data from other facilities that may or may not be served by a wireless system.

Find Out More

To get the full story on how Ameren Abacus can help you manage your energy usage, and lower you energy bill, contact Abacus Marketing toll-free at 1-877- 3ABACUS (1-877-322-2287). Or E-mail us at abacus@ameren.com.