Today, the penetration of basic AMR is increasing in the residential sector, but energy service providers would do well to focus on the commercial and industrial markets. Participation in direct access requires that these end-users have interval or real-time meters and AMR for pricing and settlement. The growing variety of information-rich services -- such as billing consolidation, energy user analysis, load aggregation, or remote energy management systems -- are logical offshoots of advanced metering systems. Many players are already offering these types of services, either on a stand-alone basis or as a tool for clinching commodity deals. In either case, ACC-based information services are a promising means of retaining existing customers, winning new ones, and creating revenue. In order to reach mass markets, including residential and smaller commercial customers, service providers are focusing on developing systems that offer improved ways of monitoring energy use with an installed cost of less than $100 per customer. (EIC-3; June 1998; 36 pages)