While the benefits of smart meters to energy suppliers and consumers have been much heralded, distribution companies also stand to gain from the revolution in the way consumers will use the energy distribution network. For example, by re-exporting home-produced energy back to the grid or plugging in electric cars.
Centrally coordinating the communications between smart meters and the utility companies via a proposed central communications model will provide the distribution companies with a platform for the development of smarter grids and enhanced information about how the network is performing. Details about which parts of the system are heavily used and which are less busy allows them to maximise equipment performance and make more informed decisions based on the stresses a particular component has suffered, cutting overall costs.
Martin Pollock, Head of Regulatory Affairs at Siemens Metering Services says: “Distribution Network Operators need to know what’s going on in the network so they can operate more efficiently, avoid power failures and plan future investment. They need to do more to ensure that they are ready to use smart metering to help them transform the performance of their services today to meet the new requirements of tomorrow.”
Smart metering will empower consumers to be able to understand and take control of their energy consumption in ways that they never could before. It will also pave the way to realising the potential of radical new solutions for energy supply, such as combined heat and power and local micro-generation. But most of all, by providing consumers with helpful information on their actual energy consumption, it will help us to understand how to use energy more wisely.
Martin Pollock adds: “With smart metering, every household can do something to help the environment and reduce our country’s dependency on energy imports, while keeping their bills down at the same time.”
Siemens is actively supporting the roll-out of smart meters by using its unique experience in transmission, distribution, communications and metering to prepare comprehensive solutions to utilities, both large and small. Siemens is currently working with a leading energy supplier to install thousands of smart meters into UK households.
Siemens Metering Services in Nottingham has been designated as Siemens’ global Centre of Competence for smart metering and smart grid services. Dedicated and designed to facilitate the transition from old-world infrastructure to an advanced new smart grid, it provides new and existing customers with both global and local expertise to understand, deploy and extract maximum value from their smart metering and grid investment.
Speaking at the Smart Metering Forum in London today, Siemens Business Development Manager for Smart Metering in the UK, Duncan Southgate, will outline how smart meters could be the starting point for smart homes.
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Notes to editors:
About Siemens in the UK
Siemens was established in the United Kingdom 166 years ago and now employs 18,402 people in the UK. Last year’s revenues were £3.7 billion. As a leading global engineering and technology services company, Siemens provides innovative solutions to help tackle the world’s major challenges, across the key sectors of energy, industry and healthcare. Siemens has offices and factories throughout the UK, with its headquarters in Frimley, Surrey. The company’s global headquarters is in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk
Siemens is leveraging its global strengths and experience of smart metering in delivering unique solutions for the UK based on products from eMeter and the integration platform from Software AG.
Siemens Metering Services, part of the global Siemens organisation, is the UK's leading independent provider of electricity, gas and water metering services. It visits over 150,000 meters every day, and supports every manufactured system from the simplest to the most sophisticated. SMS offers not only simple quarterly readings, but also fully-automated metering infrastructure using any combination of wired and wireless networks, GSM/GPRS/SMS, powerline carrier and full IP-addressing.
Our knowledge and experience is helping the UK energy industry to transition to a smart metering enabled world, from an MDM implementation through to full turnkey projects. Working in partnership with ElectraLink, the providers of the data transfer service in the electricity market, and with technology partners Software AG and eMeter, Siemens has developed a Smart Interoperability PortalTM. The portal enables an interim solution to be implemented in 2010 to gain real experience of operating high volumes of smart meters in a highly competitive retail energy environment. For more information about Siemens Metering Services visit: www.siemensenergy.co.uk
For more details on the Smart Metering Forum, December 2-3, visit: http://www.marketforce.eu.com/Conferences/metering09/
For more information, contact:
Lynn Hepple
PR Manager
Siemens plc
Tel. +44 (0)191 495 3261
Mob: +44 (0)7921 246 306