Seattle, WA and St. Louis, MO — January 18, 2012 — Calico Energy Services (www.calicoenergy.com), the market leader in interoperable energy-management solutions and analytics, and Aclara®, a leader in Intelligent Infrastructure technologies for utilities and part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE), today announced a strategic partnership to provide an integrated set of advanced load control, analytics, and demand response (DR) solutions to municipals, cooperative utilities, wholesale power cooperatives, and IOU customers.
Relying on standards-based integration and technical design, the two companies are offering a comprehensive demand-response solution to Aclara's more than 500 utility customers, as well as new customers.
“Calico's demand response capability complements our solution set,” said Brad Kitterman, President, Aclara. “This solution enables utilities to review all demand response analytics and potential events through a single dashboard, and to execute those demand response events when needed. Adding Calico's technology to our existing functionality allows Aclara to provide a more comprehensive solution that will enable our existing customers – as well as new ones – to extend their load-control capability and expand consumer-initiated demand response functionality.”
“Aclara has a long-standing reputation for providing powerful AMI solutions utilities need to connect with their customers and manage loads effectively,” said Cliff Monlux, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, Calico Energy Services. “We are pleased to be teaming with Aclara to help utilities meet load reduction goals, comply with regulations, and improve service reliability.”
Through this partnership, Aclara will utilize Calico's software systems to create Aclara's Demand Response Management System (DRMS), which will provide Aclara customers with the ability to perform forecasting, baselining and settlement. The Aclara DRMS will offer the unique integration capabilities provided by Calico's Enterprise Service Bus to help utility customers mine information from and interact with a broad range of data sources, devices, and applications throughout an energy ecosystem.
Utilities will be able to explore what-if scenarios and adjust variables incrementally to identify new opportunities for optimizing energy throughout their grid. Based on these insights, dispatchers can then implement a broad range of demand side management strategies and operational improvements that leverage Aclara's AMI networks.
The Aclara solutions powered by Calico will provide a number of key benefits to utilities, such as:
Significant cost savings – Utilities can lower demand charges and rates through enhanced forecasting and reduced peak load. Unified analytics and control minimizes administrative time, while new baselining and settlement capabilities enable true pay-for-performance incentive payments.
Valuable insight – Aclara's utilities will gain access to an interactive visual display that allows staff across operational groups to layer and compare diverse data sets in a configurable dashboard. This extensive data collection and analytics capability provides valuable insights, such as when to call events, how to better manage load, and the ability to isolate and manage problems.
Improved consumer management and experience – With a single cohesive view of customers, devices and programs, utilities can improve and expand customer services.
Consumer empowerment – Improved notification and opt-out services will also further enhance consumer satisfaction.
Aclara and Calico intend to deliver an integrated solution that will provide a low-risk, affordable option for demand response and load control programs with fast rollout capabilities. Power providers will gain a single, flexible platform for a broad portfolio of load-reduction programs as well as the ability to expand control devices and support future needs.
Aclara Contact:
Nancy E. Talley
Manager Corporate Communications
440-528-7287
Calico Energy Contact:
Thomas Doggett
Chief Marketing Officer
425-281-1829
About Calico Energy Services
Calico Energy provides a unified operations center that connects data, devices, software engines and applications. Through centralized reporting and powerful analytics, this “hub” enables intelligent decision making – as well as control of targeted energy resources and grid assets.
Calico improves decision making by unifying all relevant data from inside and outside a utility and providing insight through advanced analytics and forecasting capabilities. Calico also allows utilities to create, execute, test, and fine-tune diverse load-management programs to meet operational needs, business goals, and regulatory requirements – today and in the future. The Company's commitment to industry standards and open architecture ensures ongoing support for new and evolving technologies. To learn more about Calico Energy Services, please visit www.calicoenergy.com
About Aclara
Aclara® represents the industry's leading Intelligent Infrastructure technologies for providing device networking, data-value management, and customer communications to water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Over 500 utilities in nine countries rely on proven Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Aclara Technologies LLC is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE), St. Louis. www.Aclara.com.
