In early 1998, FLEC began replacing manually read electric power meters with automated devices called Turtles. Automated Meter Reading, or AMR, has a number of benefits. For one, once fully deployed, AMR allows FLEC to eliminate the cost of sending an employee out to locate and read every meter in the system. As a side benefit, the system eliminates manual data entry into the billing system each month and reduces the number of possible human errors in the billing process.

The system FLEC has chosen is called the Turtle system from Hunt Technologies, which transmits meter readings over the actual power lines without the need for expensive radios. Electric power meters are very simple devices conceptually. They are essentially electric motors which turn at a speed proportional to the amount of power passing through them. The motor speed is governed by the physical construction of the meter and cannot be changed except for minor adjustments which can be made to correct a meter that is aging and running too slow - they cannot be made to run too fast. This motor is then connected to a series of gears which move the dials on the face of the meter in an exact ratio such that the number of turns of the motor is converted to a number of kilowatt-hours of energy usage. This counting and conversion calculation is a fixed ratio and never varies, much as the gears in a watch always allot 60 seconds to each sweep of the minute hand, and 60 minutes to each hour. To implement AMR with Turtles, a small electronic module is installed inside a standard power meter - no other change is made. This module simply counts the number of turns of the motor inside the meter and reports the number at regular intervals using a signal transmitted via injected frequencies over the power line. This information is collected by a receiver installed at a substation and held until requested by a computer at the main office.