CMP Recognized as Global Leader in Smart Grid Technology
CMP News
Central Maine Power Company, 83 Edison Drive, Augusta, ME 04336 (207) 622-NEWS
Corporate Communications - corpcomm@cmpco.com
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Media Contact: Gail Rice (207) 622 NEWS
CMP Recognized as Global Leader in Smart Grid Technology
Presentation to Malaysian utility leaders highlights new efficiencies and customer benefits
AUGUSTA, Maine, February 3, 2014 Central Maine Power Company (CMP), a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, continues to build its reputation as a global leader in smart grid technologies. Recently, the utility shared its experiences with smart meters and other technologies with executives from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), the largest electric utility in Malaysia and one of Asia's leading utility companies.
"We launched our program with goals to improve efficiency and reliability, while offering our customers new benefits," said Laney Brown, director of Smart Grid Planning & Programs at Iberdrola USA, at a meeting with TNB officials in California. We've reached our goals in all of these areas, but that's just the beginning. We will continue to raise the bar, and as new and upgraded technology is rolled out, we expect to achieve even greater efficiency and system reliability, and offer even more benefits for our customers."
TNB serves more than 8 million customers, and its officials wanted to see how smart grid technologies could be used to support Malaysia's projected economic growth in a sustainable manner. The nation's goals include empowering consumers to better manage their electricity usage, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing use of energy through renewable sources. It is also seeking to lower grid operation costs and improve energy efficiency.
"We are very grateful to CMP for sharing their company's invaluable experiences implementing Smart Grid initiatives," said Mr. Loo Kok Seng, Senior General Manager for Corporate Planning & Sustainability at TNB. "We believe the information will directly benefit our customers as well as other stakeholders at our utility, and we look forward to sharing what we learned with Malaysian regulators and government bodies."
From 2010 through 2012, CMP installed advanced metering infrastructure across its 11,000-square-mile service territory. The system comprises more than 600,000 smart meters, the end-to-end Trilliant Smart Grid Communications Platform, and 10 information technology systems that were new or upgraded as part of the project.
CMP projects that smart meters alone will bring a net benefit of more than $25 million to customers over 20 years. The system has already enabled the utility to reduce estimated bills, provide faster and better service on connections and disconnections, and achieve quicker and more thorough outage assessment and restoration.
Initial benefits for customers include CMP's Energy manager online portal, which can be used to monitor and better manage energy use. Once fully operational, additional new systems will support a broad range of other services, including dynamic pricing, which will allow customers to reduce their electricity costs by shifting usage to non-peak hours.
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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.