Intermoco announced the three-month trial today, to be conducted by electricity supplier Integral Energy in western Sydney region. The trial will be based on Intermoco's automated meter reading technology Utiligy, which uses Telstra's GPRS network to deliver real-time data via a secure and customised Web site. The technology can, Intermoco said, be used for profiling, remote connection and disconnection of supply, demand-supply management and ultimately billing.
"The data we extract from the meter is supplied to the utility via a customised Web site," Thomas Howitt, company secretary for Intermoco told ZDNet Australia , adding that anyone with the appropriate passwords could view the data. "The utilities are more than capable of providing password access to the customer accounts. The utility is our first customer, so it's up to the utility whether they do it or not." Integral Energy could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Howitt said that details of pricing on the deal were confidential, but said that if the system was rolled out across all of Integral Energy's meters it would be worth "many millions of dollars". Intermoco derives revenue from selling hardware to the utility, and also receives an annual fee for providing data at half hour intervals, which is paid on a per-meter basis.
The main benefit for the utility is the ability to obtain data on electricity usage at half-hourly intervals, according to Howitt. Electricity is purchased from the national grid in half-hour blocks, which is currently based on historical data.
"The system provides real time information that effectively provides the utility with the power to better match the electricity purchased with the electricity consumed," said Howitt.
Intermoco currently has a deal with CitiPower in Melbourne, and is in discussion with Tenaga Nasional, the national electricity supplier in Malaysia, which is interested in the theft detection ability of Utiligy. Malaysia has around 5.5 million meters, compared to 7.7 million in Australia.
