Method and apparatus for reducing channel capacity required to report a billable consumption of a utility commodity

摘要

A pricing entity (124) periodically transmits (502) pricing information (226) including pricing of a utility commodity as a function of time. A meter apparatus (130) periodically make s a measurement (602) of consumption of the utility commodity during a predetermined interval, and determines (603) a time at which the measurement is made. The meter apparatus stores (604) the measurement and the time of the measurement in a memory (212), and receives and stores (504) the pricing information. The meter apparatus calculates (610) a billable cost incurred during the predetermined interval, from the measurement and the pricing of the utility commodity corresponding to the time of the measurement.