Central Maine Power Supports 'Apps for Energy' Contest

CMP News

Central Maine Power Company, 83 Edison Drive, Augusta, ME 04336 (207) 622-NEWS 

Corporate Communications - corpcomm@cmpco.com 

 

 

Release: Immediate  

 

Media Contact: Gail Rice (207) 622 NEWS

 

 

Central Maine Power Supports Apps for Energy Contest

New computer applications can help customers build on benefits
they already enjoy from CMP's smart meter program

AUGUSTA, Maine, February 5, 2014  Central Maine Power Company (CMP), a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, is supporting Apps for Energy II, the second of four contests in the U.S. Department of Energy's year-long American Energy Data Challenge. Along with offering financial support for the program, Laney Brown, director of Smart Grid Planning & Projects for Iberdrola USA, will serve as one of six contest judges.

 

Apps for Energy II is designed to promote the creation of new applications  or apps  to address today's energy challenges. The Energy Department will award cash prizes for the best web and mobile applications developed to help solve energy questions and problems.

 

"These new apps will give customers an even better understanding of their energy use, and could also help them to analyze the costs and benefits of energy efficiency projects they might be considering for their homes or businesses," says Brown. "We already know from our own pilot program that CMP customers reduced their monthly energy use an average of nearly 2 percent using information from their smart meters and e-mail alerts from the utility. With more information and new analysis tools, these customers might save even more."

 

CMP's pilot study was conducted as part of its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project, completed in 2012. The project included the installation of more than 600,000 smart meters throughout CMP's service area, plus related technology for communications, outage management, customer engagement, and other functions. The project has allowed the utility to streamline operations, improve outage response, and provide better service to customers through more accurate and timely billing, quicker response to service requests, and the utility's Energy Manager portal, which allows customers to monitor their energy use on line.

 

The American Energy Data Challenge, which was launched in November, consists of four contests held quarterly. More than 100 ideas were submitted during the first contest, with a total of $10,000 awarded to 12 winners in December. The Apps for Energy II contest will run until March 9, with winners announced in late March. Two additional challenges -- Energy Data by Design and the American Energy Challenge -- will be rolled out in the coming months, culminating in a call for bold ideas to re-imagine America's energy infrastructure.

 

As part of the contest, the DOE will host a series of hackathons in four cities to create venues where people can brainstorm, collaborate, and begin creating apps that use publicly-available data to solve problems. Contestants will be eligible to win prizes at the events and by submitting their apps for judging as part of the nationwide contest. One of the hackathons will be held on Feb 15-16 at hack/reduce, 275 3rd Street, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

More information on American Energy Data Challenge is available at http://energychallenge.energy.gov/.

 

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About Central Maine Power Company (CMP): Central Maine Power Company, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, is Maine's largest electricity transmission and distribution utility. The company delivers about 9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually to more than 600,000 homes and businesses, representing about 80% of Maine's annual consumer sales of electricity. The company has been ranked #1 in customer satisfaction six times by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, visit cmpco.com .

 

About Iberdrola USA: Iberdrola USA, a subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola, S.A., is an energy services and delivery company serving more than 2.4 million customers in upstate New York and New England. For more information about Iberdrola USA, visit www.iberdrolausa.com.