City of Burlington Selected Siemens eMeter Solutions

Burlington Electric Department (BED), a municipal department of the City of Burlington Vt., has selected Siemens for the sale and implementation of the eMeter EnergyIP meter data management (MDM) platform. BED and several other Vermont utilities worked together with the state of Vermont to secure Smart Grid Investment Grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The grant allowed BED to jump start its Smart Grid plans.

BED who provides electric service to more than 16,000 residential customers and 2,700 commercial and industrial customers, was looking for a meter data management system (MDMS) that could support its current needs for billing consumers from data collected from the smart meters, yet at the same time be flexible enough to adjust to the statewide functionality desired by state of Vermont regulators.

The BED Smart Grid project, like most utilities, has taken a phased approach. The first phase kicked off in mid-2011 with requirements-gathering workshops to help frame the integration work. The second phase will include meter-to-cash functionality, advanced billing functionality, and the ability to improve operational efficiencies through reduced truck rolls and better outage management.

BED also has future plans to implement the eMeter EnergyEngage(TM) consumer web portal and new energy efficiency programs so that its customers have the ability to access their energy usage data and make better decisions about how and when they consume power.