Energy giant npower has joined forces with communications company Arqiva to test out various smart meter technologies.

The first smart metering trials will take place across Arqiva’s Smart Grid proof-of-concept network and will use long range radio.

The trial smart metering network utilises Arqiva’s long range communications solution which will cover 80 square kilometres around Reading.

npower customers around the Reading area will be able to make use of the Arqiva smart meter network. Another player in the project, Senus, which is Arqiva’s technology partner, will also be a part of the trial, by providing its FlexNet solution. The FlexNet solution is already operational in seven million end-points in North America.

The smart meter network is expected to go live in July.

Head of smart metering development at npower, Dave Ford, said: “Smart meters and smart grid networks have the potential to deliver huge benefits to both customers and suppliers, but only if we get the right devices into consumers’ homes and build the right platform to support communication between meters and providers. npower continues to be at the forefront of developing new products and services for smart meters.

“We were the first supplier to install pay-as-you-go meters as well as the first to install smart meters for our micro-generation customers. Our partnership with Arqiva is vital as it will enable the industry to better understand the communications options that are available. Arqiva’s long-range radio communications solution promises real benefits in terms of reaching meters placed in basements or under stairs.”

David Green, programme director for smart metering at Arqiva, David Green, said:
“This proof of concept with npower underscores the credentials of our proposition – that long-range radio is the most secure, resilient and effective solution to meet the government target of providing smart meters to every home in the UK by 2020.”

Smart metering is set to become the new industry buzzwords throughout the next decade.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The UK’s largest energy supplier, British Gas, has announced that it plans to step-up its smart meters installation programme and get two million of the devices in-situ in their customers’ houses by 2012.

British Gas say that this will allow more British households to take advantage of all the benefits that smart meter technology offers them, including real-time usage information, which helps to cut energy use and therefore reduce carbon emissions, and thus cut fuel bills.

And to show its determination to reach the target by 2012, it has partnered with a number of leading companies to put together its smart meter system. These include mobile phone company Vodafone; billing systems group SAP; two software and communications firms OSIsoft and Trilliant; and, smarter meter manufacturer Landis+Gyr. Also, the Zigbee Smart Energy global wireless home area network standard will be used to link up the in-home devices.

Each of the firms have roles to play in the British Gas initiative. Vodafone is going to provide the network which will carry the signal from the smart meter and allow it to talk to other devices. Landis+Gyr is responsible for developing the smart metering system for the home. It will be designed to monitor both gas and electricity meters, together with an energy usage facility displayed on a colour screen. Managing all the smart meter communications is a “head end” software application from Trilliant which will link-up the smart meters and help integrate other companies’ devices. The system that will store the smart meter data will be provided by OSIsoft. Delivering smart functionality for the IT systems provided by British Gas will be supplied by SAP. And providing the Smart Energy global wireless home area network standard is ZigBee which will link-up the in-home devices.

For British Gas, creating a common smart meter standard is vitally important, so that all suppliers can potentially operate the meters without compatibility problems.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director, British Gas, said:
“At British Gas, we already have the largest smart meter trial in the country. We want all our customers to have smart meters as soon as possible, so they can take advantage of this technology and use it to help them cut their energy use, carbon emissions and fuel bills.

“This is why we recently launched our new smart metering business, and began recruitment of our 2,600 new smart energy experts who will support the roll-out. And this is why we are today announcing a partnership with a group of world-leading companies, with whom we will work to deliver our ambitious target of two million more smart meters in customers’ homes by 2012. We are also sharing our smart meter standards with the rest of the industry.”

Cameron O’Reilly, Chief Executive Officer, Landis+Gyr, said:
“This partnership represents a major breakthrough for smart metering in the UK. Together, we will pioneer the technical and practical standards that will see every home and business in the country switch to smart metering within the next decade. British Gas is actively seeking to transform the market, and we are proud and pleased to have been selected for such an instrumental role in this major deployment.”

And Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director, Vodafone UK said:
“We are focused on making our customers’ lives easier by continuously improving our products and services on the UK’s best network.
"We’re pleased to be working with British Gas on this pioneering trial to accelerate the roll-out of smart meters into British homes. Consumers can count on our fast, reliable network to help them manage their energy costs with British Gas and do their bit to help reduce carbon emissions.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

British Gas is asking for volunteer customers to join a 20-strong panel which will help write a report on how the company is operating. Advertisements were today placed in a number of national newspapers outlining their intentions.

At the same time, and as part of a much publicised move, British Gas is offering its customers the chance to pay accurate energy bills, rather than paying an amount based on an estimated meter reading.

Bills based on estimated readings have been the thorn in the side of many energy companies and research by British Gas has shown that such bills are very unpopular amongst its 16 million customers.

Instead, the energy giant is asking for customers to send their monthly readings either by text, or online. And people who opt for this service will receive a monitor, provided free, which accurately displays their use of electricity on a minute-by-minute basis.

A British Gas spokesperson said:
“Instead of issuing you with a bill we will contact you by email or text and ask you to submit a reading from the normal meter. Estimated bills were seen as a source of frustration by customers as they didn’t accurately reflect the energy they had used.”

British Gas apparently were at pains to point out that the new monitors are different from those currently being recommended by the Government.

The monitors from British Gas are designed to be installed by the user and come in two parts. One gets attached to the house’s existing meter and this communicates, via a wireless link, with the second part, which is the display. This is powered from an ordinary plug socket. And the display not only tells the user how much they are paying for their electricity on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, but also tells them how much C02 they are generating.

Although readers of this blog might remember a story a few weeks back about an Eaglestone pensioner who opted for a free gas meter upgrade found herself with a bill of £168.

And what made matters worse, she was left with no heating, or hot water. The 73-year-old responded to a British Gas offer to update customer’s technology which is part of a countrywide initiative.

An engineer made the visit, fitted the new meter and then tried to relight the pensioner’s boiler. After three attempts he gave up and left, saying it was no longer his responsibility, leaving the boiler unlit and the house cold, and without hot water.

The problem was eventually sorted out and to be fair to British Gas, it appears that the boiler might not have been regularly serviced, which meant that when it came to relighting, it would not operate properly.

But it does alert user’s to the fact that although modern monitors and meters are the future, some care should be taken as to what might happen if, after their installation (and this new one is to monitor electricity, not gas), systems don’t work as before.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The government wants every house in the U.K. to have a smart meter installed by the year 2020.

British Gas was amongst many energy companies that welcomed the initiative, as it allows them to not only remotely record the energy they are using (doing away with physical meter reading), but also let their customers see accurately how much energy they are consuming.

The cost of the initiative will be some £7 billion, as around 22 million gas meters are needed and 26 million electricity meters.

Smart meters will not only save a fortune spent on actually reading meters, but they should also reduce the amount of mistakes and controversial estimated readings. Consumer groups hope that many of the savings will be passed onto customers.

And because consumers will for the first time see the cost of heating their home, or cooking, they will begin to conserve energy and this will help reduce carbon emissions.

The meter fitting project will be the biggest of its kind since British Gas undertook to convert 17 million properties to natural gas in the 1970s.

It will be the energy company’s responsibility to run the meter fitting programme and estimates reckon the £7 billion total cost equates to around £15 per home, per year, for the five years between 2010 and 2020.

Of that £15 cost a year for five years, some £10 will be recouped in direct cost savings from the energy suppliers, leaving £5. But, with hoped for energy use savings of around 2.5% on average, this would mean some £30 off the average bill. The net result is customers better off by about £20 a year.

Overall, this could cut around £100 million of bills by 2020 and see a dramatic reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of nearly three million tonnes.

Guest Article by Neil Camp