London, England --- (METERING.COM) --- February 14, 2013 - Britain’s ‘big six’ energy suppliers, British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power and SSE, have started publishing on their websites improved and more accessible information on how many complaints they each get and how quickly these are handled.

Markham, ON, Canada --- (METERING.COM) --- February13, 2013 - IBM, which developed and has been operating Ontario’s meter data management and repository (MDM/R) system, has been awarded a further 5-year contract by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).

Brasilia, Brazil --- (METERING.COM) --- February 13, 2013 - Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the European Commission’s in-house Joint Research Center (JRC) have signed an arrangement to strengthen and further structure scientific and other cooperative activities in a number of areas including smart grids.

London, England --- (METERING.COM) --- February 13, 2013 - Britain’s gas and electricity regulator Ofgem has launched a final consultation on the code of practice for use by suppliers when installing smart metering systems for residential and small business customers.

The code and the underpinning license conditions are intended to deliver a positive consumer experience before, during and after the installation visit. The intention is for this positive experience to be delivered through new consumer protections, and also by empowering consumers by implementing measures to help them engage with their new smart metering system following the installation visit.

Canberra, Australia --- (METERING.COM) --- February 12, 2013 - In what has been a lengthy investigation Victorian distributor SP AusNet has had its request for increases in its smart meter expenditures for the 2012-2015 period rejected by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).

At issue is SP AusNet’s choice of WiMAX for its communications technology, and whether or not the company should have switched to mesh radio – the technology of choice of the other Victorian distributors – when a cost overrun became apparent and to enable it to reach its AMI delivery targets.

Toronto, ON, Canada --- (METERING.COM) --- February 12, 2013 - In a new report the Ontario Energy Board has set out guidance and expectations for smart grid investments by the province’s distributors and other entities such as the Ontario Power Authority, the Independent Electricity System Operator, and the Smart Metering Entity.

The 34-page Supplemental Report on Smart Grids seeks to provide “holistic” guidance, without prescribing specific investments, technologies, targets, etc., and is founded on the performance-based approach of Ontario’s renewed regulatory framework.

Abuja, Nigeria --- (METERING.COM) --- February 12, 2013 - The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ordered the country’s distributors to issue meters to their customers who have already paid for them within 45 days.

The NERC resolution comes seven months after the announcement that customers would no longer pay for meters as their cost has already been captured in the tariff. However, to date, records show that there are an unacceptable number of customers who are without meters, according to an NERC statement. Further, compounding the issue is the menace of unrealistic estimated or ‘crazy’ bills.

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- February 11, 2013 - The Meter-ON project has been launched with support from the European Commission’s Seventh European Framework Program to steer the implementation of smart metering solutions in Europe by collecting the most successful experiences in the field and highlighting the conditions that enabled their development.

Gaithersburg, MD, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 11, 2013 - 13 standards have been voted for inclusion in the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Catalog of Standards, bringing the total therein to 56.

These standards are:

• NAESB REQ 21.TheEnergy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) builds on the NAESB Energy Usage Information (EUI) model and subject to the governing documents and any requirements of the applicable regulatory authority, will help enable retail customers to share energy usage information with third parties who have acquired the right to act in this role.

Pretoria, South Africa and Skanderborg, Denmark --- (METERING.COM) --- February 11, 2013 - Danish metering solution provider Kamstrup has opened a local subsidiary in Pretoria, South Africa following a three year period of sales through local distributors.

This marks a strategic ramp up for Kamstrup in South Africa, where great potential is seen for the company’s smart metering products.

Palo Alto, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 8, 2013 - With the deployment of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology significantly increasing the attack surface that utilities have to protect, there is a critical need for efficient monitoring solutions to supplement protective measures and keep the infrastructure secure.

With this in mind the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has published guidelines for an AMI intrusion detection system, based on current industrial and academic efforts to address the challenge of detecting security events across the range of AMI networks and devices.

Tokyo, Japan and Atlanta, GA and San Antonio, TX, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 8, 2013 - Toshiba Corporation, owner of Landis+Gyr, has now added the intelligent energy management company Consert Inc. to its portfolio.

Consert will enhance Toshiba Group's smart community business in the United States, according to a company statement. Operations in North America will be integrated with Landis+Gyr.

Gotland, Sweden and San Jose, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 8, 2013 - The Smart Grid Gotland project, alargescale smart grid technology demonstration on the island of Gotland, Sweden, is to deploy Echelon’s Edge Control Node, its Control Operating System (COS) based application platform and 3,000 advanced grid sensors, which also provide smart metering functionality.

Perth, Australia --- (METERING.COM) --- February 7, 2013 - The Perth Solar City demonstration involving over 16,000 households and more than 30 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Perth’s eastern region has concluded with the publication of the final report.

This, the most comprehensive energy efficiency initiative in Western Australia, was launched in November 2009. It received $13.9 million in seed funding from the Australian government’s SolarCities initiative. A further $33.3 million of cash and in-kind support was contributed by the Perth SolarCity Consortium.

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- February 7, 2013 - Does infrared have the potential for home networking? – yes, suggests the findings of the European Union funded "hOME Gigabit Access" (OMEGA) project, which has created a system for higher broadband speeds that can connect multiple devices in the home.

Today, Wi-Fi is the home networking solution everyone uses, but it is unlikely to be able to meet future demands by itself. To ensure greater bandwidth, researchers on the OMEGA project have developed a network using a combination of power cables, radio signals and light.

Chisinau, Republic of Moldova and Warsaw, Poland --- (METERING.COM) --- February 7, 2013 - One of Poland’s largest distribution operators Energa-Operator is to deploy 310,000 ADDAX meters compliant with PRIME specifications from ADD GRUP during 2013.

The concentrators will be supplied by the Current Group. Other ADD GRUP partners in this project are ARCUS and T-matic Systems, which will take care of rollout management, logistics and the integration aspects of the project.

Geneva, Switzerland and Arlington, VA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 6, 2013 - Are the “millenials” the generation that utilities should be focusing on most when it comes to engaging with their customers on issues such as home networking and home energy management?

If the findings of two recent studies are anything to go by, then the answer could be yes.

Brasilia, Brazil --- (METERING.COM) --- February 6, 2013 - Brazil’s electricity regulator Aneel has approved a three-year research and development project to improve power quality monitoring by the country’s electricity distributors.

According to Aneel, the aim of the project is to develop a system for the calculation of the distribution network continuity indicators that is reliable and representative. These should include the SAIDI (DEC) and SAIFI (FEC) interruption indicators, with adequate precision and according to a cost-benefit analysis. Further the data will need to be available to Aneel on a remote basis.

Arlington, VA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 6, 2013 - The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has released a new standard for a modular communication interface that will enable grid connectivity of consumer electronics for demand response, and thereby enable a new generation of “smart grid ready” products.

The standard, CEA-2045, is aimed to enable any product to connect to any type of demand response system (advanced meter reading (AMI), Smart Energy Profile (SEP), OpenADR), and/or home or building network.

Adelaide, Australia --- (METERING.COM) --- February 5, 2013 - South Australia has moved to energy price deregulation and implementation of the National Energy Customer Framework (NECF), in a move that is expected to bring more competition to the market, effective February 1.

Under the new regime customers can readily compare offers and switch between suppliers of electricity and gas.