Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — National Grid Plc, the operator of
electricity distribution networks in four northeastern U.S.
states, will use equipment from Itron Corp. and Cisco Systems
Inc. in an expanded power-meter program in Massachusetts.
The full pilot program for the city of Worcester will have
10,000 smart meters, twice the amount used in a field trial last
year, Liberty Lake, Washington-based Itron said in a statement
today. Cisco will provide communications and networking systems
and Itron will supply software to manage and report the data.
Bridge Energy Group Inc. will serve as project leader.
So-called smart meters give utilities data on power
failures and can provide customers with information about their
usage online or using mobile phone applications. National Grid,
which serves power customers in New York, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts and Rhode Island, was able to use some of the
network’s information for system reliability after Hurricane
Sandy, according to the statement.
“Utilities are transforming the way they do business in
order to become more customer-centric, energy efficient and
operationally effective,” David Olsson, chief executive officer
of Bridge Energy, said today in a separate statement.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrew Herndon in San Francisco at
aherndon2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
