London, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 19, 2010 - The rollout of smart meters should help to provide major improvements in prepayment, bringing important benefits to users, including greater convenience and flexibility from new ways to add credit, new services and lower prices, according to a new report from the think tank, Sustainability First.

Prepayment meters are used by millions of consumers in Great Britain, although their use is not so widespread in many other countries. While prepayment meters have both advantages and disadvantages, they are generally popular with those who use them, largely because of the budgeting control which they give them.

Beijing, China --- (METERING.COM) --- March 19, 2010 - The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has announced plans to accelerate the building of electric vehicle charging stations in 27 cities in 2010.

Plans are for 75 public charging stations, 6,209 AC charging spots and some battery replacement stations, with the aim of supporting the country's "Energy efficient and new energy vehicle pilot program.”

San Marcos, TX, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 19, 2010 - The City of San Marcos has signed an agreement to acquire NorthStar Utilities Solutions’ MeterSense meter data management (MDM) solution, to further advance the City's smart metering project.

MeterSense will manage the information from the City’s smart meters, filling gaps and elevating data quality before presenting energy usage information for customers to view via web portal. With intuitive reports showing hourly usage online, customers will be able to visualize their energy patterns and have the ability to control their costs. Ultimately, customers will have the opportunity to save money through time-of-use (TOU) rates. MeterSense ties together utility information systems such as the Geographic Information System (GIS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Outage Management System (OMS), allowing the City to easily analyze operations and monitor their vital electric and water distribution infrastructure.

Vancouver, BC, Canada --- (METERING.COM) --- March 18, 2010 - BC Hydro has selected IT company Telvent’s Distribution Management System (DMS), the company has announced.

BC Hydro serves in area inhabited by more than 94 percent of British Columbia's population, amounting to 1.8 million customers.

Telvent’s integrated, scalable DMS solution will enhance BC Hydro’s ability to provide safe, secure and reliable energy supply to its customers particularly during major storms or unusual events.

Manila, Philippines --- (METERING.COM) --- March 18, 2010 - The Philippines regulator, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has released draft rules for a feed-in tariff for renewable energy projects.

The rules are intended to provide the regulatory framework for the implementation of the feed-in tariff, and are aimed at promoting and encouraging the deployment of energy from sources including solar, wind, ocean, run-of-river hydroelectric power, biomass, and the renewable energy components of hybrid systems.  

San Ramon, CA and Austin, TX, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 18, 2010 - The ZigBee® Alliance and the Wi-Fi Alliance® have announced an agreement to collaborate on wireless home area networks (HAN) for smart grid applications, focusing initially on ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0.

As a result of the collaboration ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0, which is the next generation energy management protocol for smart grid-enabled homes based on the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile, is expected to operate over Wi-Fi technology.

Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 17, 2010 - A national wide-area broadband network in the United States is crucial to the development of the smart grid with the lack of such a network capable of meeting the requirements of the smart grid threatening to delay its implementation.

This is according to the national broadband plan, “Connecting America,” which was delivered to the U.S. Congress yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

London, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 17, 2010 - A massive surge in demand for non half hourly automated meters (AMRs) as firms rush to be ready for the new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation that comes in to play in Great Britain at the end of this month has been observed by carbon and energy consultancy IMServ.

In an average month, IMServ installs around 3,500 smart meters as part of its Business SMART service, the company said in a statement. However in March this year approximately 7,000 units are planned for install and already orders have been taken for a further 6,000 units for April.

London, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 17, 2010 - The rollout of smart meters in Great Britain will open the door to new forms of “smart” tariffs and price incentives, which could help to support delivery of energy bill savings to consumers, economic benefits across the energy supply chain, carbon emissions reductions, and security of supply, but there are many consumer and cross-industry issues to consider, according to a new report from the think tank Sustainability First.

Abu Dhabi, UAE --- (METERING.COM) --- March 16, 2010 - Smart meters are soon to be fitted in select homes in Abu Dhabi in a pilot project to test the technology in saving energy and thereby driving down demand and system peaks.

In its newly released annual work plan for 2010, the Regulation & Supervision Bureau says that over the past few years, both the Al Ain Distribution Company (AADC) and Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC) have been installing electronic meters, initially for automatic meter reading (AMR) purposes. However, the potential uses of these meters exceed AMR and they could form the basis for a range of smarter solutions in terms of tariffs and power purchasing options.

Wellington, New Zealand --- (METERING.COM) --- March 16, 2010  - New Zealand’s energy and resources minister Gerry Brownlee has confirmed that smart metering in the country will not be extensively regulated.

In announcing his decision Brownlee said he agreed to the recommendations set out by the Electricity Commission in its December 2009 report on a rollout and requirements for smart meters in New Zealand.

Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 16, 2010 - A coalition should be established to provide assistance to the United States federal government in implementing a national action plan on demand response, according to the draft plan.

Coalitions represent a way of harnessing the collective energy of a variety of individual organizations and yielding outcomes that have greater reach and depth than those organizations would achieve on their own.

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- March 15, 2010 - A group of ten companies have established a “Friends of the Supergrid” (FOSG) to progress policy towards the construction of a pan-European offshore supergrid to connect large scale renewable power generation across the region.

San Jose, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 15, 2010 - Silicon Valley solar system manufacturer SunPower Corp. has been awarded a grant from the California Solar Initiative Research, Development, Deployment and Demonstration (CSI RD&D) Program to investigate the integration of solar systems with smart metering.

SunPower will team up with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) on the project to research the new hardware and software tools for providing bi-directional communication and management between PV systems and utility controls using advanced metering infrastructure.

Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 15, 2010 - Under guidance from the United States Department of Treasury and Department of Energy Recovery Act funding under the $3.4 billion Smart Grid Investment Grant program is deemed to be non-taxable.

This will enable corporate utilities to launch their investments with a clear indication of the tax status for their projects, and will allow the Department of Energy to move forward quickly to finalize grant agreements over the coming weeks.