Telenor Connexion’s Dean Woods and the OnStream team at the European Smart Metering Awards 2011 in London.

The European Smart Metering Awards, which takes place in connection with the Smart Metering UK & Europe Summit, recognises achievements and innovation from utilities and technology providers involved in the European Smart Metering roll-out.

National Grid company and Telenor Connexion customer OnStream was nominated for both, “Metering Manufacturer & Technology of the Year” and “Innovation of the Year”, for its connected Smart Meters and won both awards.

Telenor Connexion has been working alongside OnStream for over 18 months, providing the connectivity for the new OnStream Smart Meters. The unique solution designed by Telenor Connexion allows each meter to connect to any UK mobile network without network bias, ensuring the highest quality of connectivity for the solution.   
OnStream’s mobile communications-based meters use low levels of electricity, enabling low levels of power consumption. The meters also include the ability to accommodate communication with smart appliances as they become more widely available, leading to the formation of the Smart Grid.

− Congratulations to OnStream and all of the other partners involved in the delivery of this top quality solution, that is sure to play a major part over the coming years of smart metering deployment in the UK, says Dean Woods, Head of Region UK & Ireland at Telenor Connexion. 
 
− We are delighted to win these awards. Not only do they recognise the hard work we have put into our product development, but are also confirmation from the industry that OnStream is seen to have the leading smart products and are at the forefront of driving forward innovative solutions to support the wider industry smart roll out, says Keith Hawkins, Strategy & Smart Development Manager at OnStream.

The UK government has unveiled plans for every home in Britain to be equipped with Smart Meters. Some 22 million gas meters and 26 million electricity meters need to be fitted at a cost of £7 billion. (Source: Smart metering UK & Europe 2011 Summit)

All award entries were assessed and judged upon by an independent panel of industry experts. The awards were presented on January 27th at an exclusive gala dinner at the Smart Metering UK & Europe Summit in London, UK.

About OnStream
OnStream offers smart metering services aimed at improving service provision and reducing environmental impact. The company provides a flexible and professional range of meter management services to UK energy suppliers. To date, OnStream has installed in excess of two million gas meters and one million electricity meters. OnStream is a National Grid company, one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.
National Grid plays a vital role in providing energy to millions of customers across Great Britain and the Northeast US in an efficient, reliable and safe manner.
www.onstream.co.uk

As a basis for creating effective usage of energy and a sustainable energy distribution system, much focus is now placed on building “smart grids” – intelligent energy networks. One core component of the smart grids is to enable connectivity towards the meters in the grid, thereby enhancing the possibility to monitor and manage energy consumption in real-time.

The movement towards smart metering is partly driven by regulation and a recent EU initiative indicates that 80 percent of all electricity meters will be so called smart meters by 2020. Whilst the overall aim from an EU perspective is energy savings and movement towards a more environmental energy value chain, this new technology also provides a platform for fewer and less severe outages, reduction in energy network losses and a more efficient energy market.

The new generation of smart metering solutions not only makes remote meter reading possible but also provides a platform for various value adding services such as improved customer relations management and demand side management, important factors for an increasingly competitive energy market environment.

Smart metering systems usually include three main components: a connected meter, a communication network and data collection/management systems. Telenor Connexion is working closely towards both meter manufacturers as well towards providers of central data management systems to integrate GSM/GPRS connectivity solutions in the best possible way for large-scale deployments.