By the end of 2012, Itron will have shipped more than 4 million OpenWay residential and small-commercial smart electricity meters, the company said.
Lynda Ziegler, senior vice president of customer service of SCE, said: “We’re proud to launch this new generation of meters, providing customers with new options and information to help them better manage their energy use.”
According to the company, these new digital and two-way communicating meters will measure electricity usage and, when fully implemented, will enable customers to track how much they use, and how much it costs them.
As part of its Edison SmartConnect program, SCE plans to offer customers time-of-use rates, and peak-time rebates and critical-peak pricing programs, all of which are immediately supported within the new AMI system. Many of these features and functionality will go into effect in the second half of 2010.
Meters from the newly installed population were commissioned to verify full system operation and smart grid support. The devices were read interactively using Itron’s security architecture based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC).
Malcolm Unsworth, president and CEO of Itron, said: “OpenWay offers SCE a smart metering and communication system with advanced benefits and functionality. We are delighted that our technology can be foundational to a program like Edison SmartConnect, which is considered among the most advanced in the nation for its thought leadership and management. SCE is to be commended.”
