Norwich Public Utilities on Thursday selected a North Carolina clean technology firm to put smart meters on its electric, natural gas and water services to provide customers will better information for their energy usage.
NPU received a grant from the America Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 to deploy smart meters throughout its service area of more than 22,000 customers. Smart meters offer customers cost savings by analyzing energy usage and reporting ways to change that usage to take advantage of real time pricing.
On Thursday, NPU announced it selected North Carolina firm Tantalus to provide this Advanced Metering Infrastructure system, which uses radio and existing fiber optics to create a communications network with the smart meters.
“What sets Tantalus apart from other solutions we vetted is the flexibility and strength of their communications platform,” said Jeff Brining, NPU’s energy services division manager, in a statement. “Customers are starting to demand real-time information. Tantalus’s system works seamlessly with our current fiber communications network and has highly effective RF capabilities which allow us to reach all of our customers.”
