Tshwane South Africa --- (METERING.COM) --- April 5, 2013 - The City of Tshwane’s smart metering project was launched Tuesday, under which all Tshwane residents will receive smart prepaid electricity meters.

The project forms part of the city’s Security of Revenue project, which aims to improve service, monitor power consumption and reduce costs.

Austin, TX, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 5, 2013 - The Ember ZigBee solutions, including silicon devices, software and development tools, from Silicon Labs have achieved Golden Unit certification from the ZigBee Alliance for the newly released ZigBee IP specification, the company has announced.

ZigBee IP is the first open standard for IPv6-based wireless mesh networking solutions, providing seamless, end-to-end internet connectivity and a scalable architecture to control low power devices. It was made publicly available last week.

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- April 4, 2013 - There are no major limitations to the development of a European supergrid and EU policy makers must put in place the regulatory framework to enable large scale interconnection between member states.

This was the call from Friends of the Supergrid chairman, Marcello del Brenna, at the recent Supergrids 2013 event.

London, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 4, 2013 - Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem is to fine SSE £10.5 million for what it says are numerous breaches of the company’s obligations relating to telephone, in-store and doorstep sales activities to consumers.

The level of fine reflects the seriousness and duration of breaches, the likely substantial harm that they have caused, and the likely gain to SSE, says Ofgem in a statement.

Koblenz, Germany --- (METERING.COM) --- April 4, 2013 - The COMfor.adapt.E350 module to embed Landis+Gyr’s E350 residential meter in the NES system from Echelon is now available from Görlitz.

With this new feature to integrate a further meter beside the Echelon meter, the COMfor.adapt.E350 provides for the first time the basis for real interoperability on an Echelon platform, the company said in a statement.

Chicago, IL, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 3, 2013 - ComEd’s smart grid modernization program resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 full-time equivalent jobs in Illinois in 2012, the company has reported in a report submitted to the Illinois Commerce Commission.

These include 785 direct and contractor full-time equivalent jobs, including positions at the utility and outside contractors, along with an estimated 1,700 induced jobs representing a broad range of functions required to build a 21st century electric grid, from construction, engineering and system design to manufacturing and administration.

Rome, Italy --- (METERING.COM) --- April 3, 2013 - Enel, coordinator of the Integris program aimed to associate electricity and telecommunications technologies, has announced that the three demonstrations being carried out within the project are about to be completed.

These demonstrations are in Brescia (Italy), Barcelona (Spain) and Tampere (Finland).

Dubai, UAE --- (METERING.COM) --- April 3, 2013 - Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Samsung Gulf Electronics under which the company will develop applications and electronic solutions for use on Samsung products including smart phones, tablets, smarts TVs, and other electronic devices.

Santa Clara, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 2, 2013 - Courtesy of Silicon Valley Power’s SVP MeterConnect program, the City of Santa Clara has become the first city in the U.S. to gain free citywide outdoor Wi-Fi as part of an advanced electric meter upgrade program that uses wireless technology to read meters.

London, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 2, 2013 - The U.K.'s largest smart grid project has completed the first stage of its research into electricity consumption after establishing a series of ongoing trials with 12,000 customers.

The £54 million Customer-Led Network Revolution (CLNR) project is testing a number of innovative solutions to ensure Britain's electricity networks are fit for the future and ready for the mass uptake of low carbon technologies, such as solar PV, heat pumps and electric vehicles.

Arlington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- MARCH 28, 2013 - The Smart Grid Alliance for the Americas led by NRECA International and cooperative utilities in Latin America has been awarded ‘Expansion’ status by the U.S. State Department.

Under the expansion, the Alliance will focus on technical assistance for partner utilities. Plans include increasing partner discussions, information exchanges, and mentoring to encourage peer-to-peer networking. NRECA will also work with the Alliance members to facilitate knowledge transfer to overcome any technical challenges faced in ongoing projects.

Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 28, 2013 - The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in partnership with Austin Water Utility and San Antonio Water System of Texas and American Water, and the support of East Bay Municipal Utility District of California and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, have submitted a proposal to the American Water Works Association (AWWA) to revise national accuracy standards for new water meters.

San Ramon, CA, U.S.A.  --- (METERING.COM) --- March 28, 2013 - ZigBee IP, the first open standard for an IPv6-based full wireless mesh networking solution and providing seamless internet connections to control low power, low cost devices, is now publicly available, the ZigBee Alliance has announced.

Bengaluru, India and Manila, Philippines --- (METERING.COM) --- March 27, 2013 - Pay-as-you-go (or prepay) solar energy access is a new concept finding favor in rural India and by 2015 more than 60,000 households are expected to have better access to electricity as the availability of the technology is scaled up, with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Mobile, AL, U.S.A. and Ottawa, ON, Canada --- (METERING.COM) --- March 27, 2013 - Mobile Area Water & Sewer System (MAWSS) is using Harris Utilities’ MeterSense meter data management (MDM) solution to provide some of its largest commercial and industrial (C&I) customers with advanced meter data analytics that enhance customer service.
 
MAWSS provides water and sanitary sewer services to approximately 88,000 customers in Mobile, Alabama. Approximately 4,500 of those customers are C&I accounts.

Singapore --- (METERING.COM) --- March 26, 2013 - Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) is taking further steps to liberalize the retail electricity market to enable more consumers to become contestable.

Currently about 75 percent of total electricity demand in Singapore has been opened up for competition. Large non-residential consumers with an average monthly consumption of 10,000 kWh or more at a single location can choose to become contestable.

Johannesburg, South Africa and Hamburg, Germany --- (METERING.COM) --- March 26, 2013 - Renewable energy feed-in tariffs (REFiTs) can play an important role in transforming Africa’s energy sector by attracting investment in sustainable, renewable electricity production, according to a new publication from the World Future Council, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung and Friends of the Earth England, Wales & Northern Ireland.

London, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 25, 2013 - Britain’s smart meter rollout should be changed to a market-led approach, addressing consumers’ concerns over cost and giving suppliers the incentive to invest before the rationing processes (when demand outstrips supply), implicit in the current approach, have to be used, according to a new paper from the Conservative think tank, Conservative Technology Forum.

Bogotá, Colombia --- (METERING.COM) --- March 25, 2013 - Colombia’s transmission grid operator XM Compañía de Expertos en Mercados S.A. E.S.P. has been awarded a $463,944 grant by the USTDA to support its efforts to develop an intelligent supervision and advanced control system (iSAAC) for the country’s transmission grid.

Praia, Cape Verde and Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 25, 2013 - The Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the Clean Energy Ministerial’s (CEM) Super-Efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative have launched an initiative to develop a regional system of energy efficiency standards and labels for appliances.