Press release
Webster Electric Cooperative Replaces Entire Meter Base with Elster EnergyAxis® Smart Grid Solution
Elster’s Two-way Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Network Brings Improved Distribution Management and Customer Service to Rural Providers
Marshfield, MO and Raleigh, NC, June 24, 2010. Elster and Webster Electric Cooperative, a locally owned and governed not-for-profit cooperative in Marshfield, Missouri, announced today that Webster Electric Cooperative has selected the Elster EnergyAxis® AMI Smart Grid solution to replace its existing self-read electric meter base.
Webster Electric Cooperative plans to deploy 18,500 EnergyAxis Smart Meters between July and December 2010. With EnergyAxis, Webster Electric Cooperative will be able to remotely read residential and commercial Smart Meters, eliminating their current method of customer self-reads and estimated billing.
Elster’s two-way EnergyAxis communication system will bring Webster Electric Cooperative remote data collection, remote connect and disconnect capabilities, broad improvements to customer service and the ability to detect non-technical electricity losses quickly and efficiently. With EnergyAxis in place, Webster Electric Cooperative also will be able to quickly implement demand response and distribution automation in the future.
“Our partnership with Elster brings us into an important next phase in our customer service and electric distribution capabilities,” said Tom Houston, general manager, Webster Electric Cooperative.
“When we decided to modernize our network with Smart Meters and a new communications network, we selected Elster because of EnergyAxis’ field-proven technology and the company’s extensive experience in the electric industry. This deployment of Elster’s EnergyAxis AMI solution will substantially upgrade our billing infrastructure and customer service,” Houston added.
Webster Electric Cooperative will deploy EnergyAxis 7.0, which includes expanded local area network (LAN) capabilities for RF-based mesh AMI networks. These LAN capabilities can offer rural areas increased network speed, expanded data handling capabilities, improved network reliability and security.
“As more rural electricity providers look to RF-based mesh AMI network technology than ever before, Webster Electric Cooperative’s deployment is a significant step forward for Smart Grid in rural areas around the world,” said Mark L. Munday, president and CEO, Elster Solutions, North America. "We look forward to helping Webster Electric Cooperative deliver this next phase in customer service with its new EnergyAxis Smart Meter deployment.”
EnergyAxis, a field-proven Smart Grid solution with more than 3.5 million endpoints deployed with utilities across North America, enables utilities to:
- Realize operational efficiencies;
- Conserve environmental and economic resources by reducing the losses in electricity, gas and water grids;
- Reduce outages, and improve outage response and repair time;
- Improve customer service and consumer choice;
- Implement demand response programs that can conserve resources and reduce costs, especially during periods of peak demand;
- Provide real-time information to end consumers to allow them to better manage their energy consumption; and
- Detect and reduce non-technical losses.