[img:Vics_0.jpg| ]Melbourne, Australia --- (METERING.COM) --- December 15, 2011 - Victoria’s smart meter rollout is to continue, but with major changes to ensure consumers receive the benefits, the state government has decided following an extensive review of the program.

Key findings of the review are that at this stage of the program's life, the maximum benefit would be delivered by continuing the rollout. Consumers can benefit from an orderly introduction of flexible pricing, including the continuation of flat rates, but greater customer engagement is required to better explain smart meters and their operation. In addition, the smart meters are safe and fall well within the requirements for electromagnetic and radiofrequency emissions.

[img:dean_keeling.thumbnail.jpg|Dean Keeling,
MD, British Gas
Smart Homes]Stockley Park, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- December 15, 2011 - British Gas has been named by Toyota as its preferred supplier of electric vehicle charge points in Britain, the company has announced.

British Gas will be offering Toyota customers a range of products and services for safe, convenient and efficient vehicle recharging, according to a Toyota blog. These will include a full free-of-charge site survey, advice on the best way to equip a home for electric vehicle charging and a number of insurance options.

[img:CFE_0.png| ]Mexico City and Boulder, CO, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- December 15, 2011 - Mexico’s state power utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) has selected FreeWave Technologies’ radio solutions for wireless data radio applications such as power consumption and substation monitoring, as well as control and monitoring of power networks.

CFE is currently is using FreeWave's FGR2-PE, FGR115-RC and HTPlus wireless data radios in nine of the 16 divisions throughout Mexico.

[img:DigitalGridLogo3_0.jpg| ]Tokyo, Japan --- (METERING.COM) --- December 14, 2011 - The recently established Digital Grid Consortium (dGrid) in Japan kicks off its technical development and standardization efforts with the establishment of a research center in Bunkyo, Tokyo.

The Consortium, a not-for-profit Japanese corporation launched in September, is partnering with  ORIX Corporation, NEC Corporation and National Instruments Japan to establish common interfaces and viable business models in preparation for joint development programs that will begin at the start of the 2012 fiscal year.

[img:PSC_0_0.JPG| ]Cleveland, OH, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- December 14, 2011 - The Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), an operating unit of American Electric Power (AEP), has selected Intwine Energy Networks to deploy the industry’s first residential energy management service based upon the Smart Energy Profile (SEP) 2.0 and Wi-Fi standards.

The project will measure the impact of variable pricing on homeowner usage of energy under time-of-use and critical peak pricing options. Direct load control also will be a component of the project.

[img:CliveH_0.JPG|Clive van Heerden,
Senior Director,
Philips Design]Amsterdam, the Netherlands --- (METERING.COM) --- December 14, 2011 - A concept “home of the future” has been unveiled by the Dutch electronics giant Philips – but its not the hi-tech home filled with “smart” appliances and devices that we normally cover in these columns.

[img:d_chuang_m_0.jpg|Dean Chuang,
Senior Research Analyst,
IDC Energy Insights]Framingham, MA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- December 13, 2011 - Global smart meter shipments reached a new high in the third quarter of 2011, up more than 5 percent from the previous quarter and more than 11 percent over the third quarter of 2010, according to IDC Energy Insights’ quarterly smart meter tracker.

[img:Perry%20Stoneman_0.jpg|Perry Stoneman,
VP and Global
Leader, Capgemini
Smart Energy
Services]San Diego, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- December 13, 2011 - Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) has selected Capgemini to support its 6 million smart meter upgrade – a first for a large North American, gas-only distribution company.

The work is planned to extend to the end of December 2013, with an initial “go live” date of October 2012. The mass smart meter installation is expected to start in Q1 of 2013 and be completed by mid-2017.

[img:WECC_0.jpg| ]Paris, France --- (METERING.COM) --- December 13, 2011 - The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) has selected Alstom Grid to supply smart grid synchrophasor software applications for its Western Interconnection SynchroPhasor Program (WISP).

Synchrophasor technology provides sub-second, real time grid performance data to operators, thus strongly enhancing the capability for increased grid reliability and efficiency.

Metering International, the leading global publication on utility metering, has announced that nominations are now being accepted for the 2012 North American Metering International Excellence Awards. Winners to be honored at Metering, Billing/MDM America on March 13th in San Diego

On November 25th, The Danish Government presented its plan to secure the countries’ energy future. Titled Our Energy, the strategy presents specific measures for fulfilling the government’s goal of stimulating green growth.

Timothée Noël of the European Commission has just confirmed his involvement in ESCO Europe 2012 and will outline New Project Funding Opportunities for Energy Services, supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme.
These new funding opportunities will only be announced on January 24, making ESCO Europe 2012 perfectly timed for you to understand what this announcement means for your projects.

This briefing note by Engage Consulting summarises the content of Britain’s Water White Paper "Water for Life" published on 8th December 2011 by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the Government department with overall responsibility for water policy and legislation). The Water White Paper represents the British Government's response to three major reviews of the water sector:

[img:ElecA_0.JPG| ]Wellington, New Zealand --- (METERING.COM) --- December 12, 2011 - Following the launch of the “What’s my number?” campaign in New Zealand in May customer supplier switching up to the end of September increased by 37 percent over the same period last year, according to the Electricity Authority.

In the period from June to September, 162,965 consumers switched retail provider, and there was a 0.3 percent decline in electricity prices – largely due to increases in some prompt payment discounts. For comparison the Statistics New Zealand consumer price index shows retail prices were up 4.6 percent on an annual basis in the year to September.

[img:DSC_0989_0.jpg|John McDonald (l.)
and Ralph Sporer (r.)]Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- December 12, 2011 - The U.S. Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) and the European Union's (EU) Smart Grid Coordination Group (SG-CG) last week signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate on smart grid efforts.

The collaboration is aimed to ensure that smart grid standards on both continents have as much in common as possible, so that devices and systems that interact with the smart grid can be designed in similar fashion.