Silver Spring Networks has been selected for an advanced metering program by Horizon Power, a Western Australian government owned utility, which has a service territory spanning approximately 2.3 million square kilometers (approximately 888,000 square miles), one of the most sparsely populated in the world. Silver Spring’s multi-application, IPv6 network platform will be used to connect Horizon Power’s 47,000 customers for an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program, making it the first distribution utility in Australia to pursue a non-mandated AMI deployment and a customer pre-payment program.
The program is a part of the $34 million project funded by the Western Australian Government to reduce operating costs associated with customer services costs and the servicing of meters in remote locations. Silver Spring was selected for the AMI program following the completion of a successful pre-payment program leveraging technology from Silver Spring partner SmartGridCIS to enable customers to pay for electricity in advance and better monitor their electricity use.
Silver Spring’s smart grid networking technology has already connected over two million homes and businesses in Australia and New Zealand in partnership with CitiPower and Powercor Australia, Jemena, United Energy and Western Power in Australia, and SmartCo, Metrix and WEL Networks in New Zealand.
