According to the agreement, Telenor Cinclus will supply automatic meter reading solutions for Fortum's 835,000 electricity customers in Sweden. This is equivalent to 16 per cent of all Swedish households, and around 500,000 of these are located in the Stockholm region. The agreement is the largest of its kind within the Nordic region.
Implementation of the solution will begin in 2006 and all households are expected to have the solution installed by the first half of 2009. The agreement runs over a period of ten years and is worth more than SEK 2 billion. Fortum also has an option to extend the agreement by a further six years.
"For us this is a strategic investment, not just an investment we make to meet regulatory requirements. By investing in the most modern and flexible platform for automatic meter reading we will be able to offer our customers better service. This investment gives us an infrastructure that allows us to satisfy our customers' needs for other services," says Christian Lundberg, Managing Director at Fortum in Sweden.
Partners
Telenor Cinclus will work with Comsel, its own subsidiary, on technology, and with Telenor Mobile Sweden on mobile communication.
Telenor Mobile Sweden supply communication to the meter readers, which will be equipped with inbuilt GPRS modems. This allows for a highly efficient means of collecting information from the meter readers via the mobile network. All remote reading will take place during the night, when traffic volumes are far lower than during daytime.
"There are several reasons why this is a key agreement for us. The electrical energy industry is currently undergoing a very interesting development, and we are excited to be part of that development. This agreement also involves important recognition of the capabilities of our mobile network, as Fortum has very high demands with respect to geographic coverage, reliability and quality," says Johan Lindgren, CEO of Telenor Mobile Sweden.
Relacom will handle the installation of the solution on behalf of Telenor Cinclus, Landis & Gyr will supply the meters, and Powel will supply the software for collecting meter information. Further, Hunt and Siemens are partners on communication solutions.
The total supplies include implementation and project management, meter reading equipment, and operating and monitoring services.
Investing in the future
Sweden is a rapidly growing market for automatic meter reading. An important reason for this is that the Swedish authorities have instructed all energy companies to adopt automaticmeter readings by July 2009.
"The fact that Fortum has chosen our technology and solutions is an important acknowledgment for Telenor Cinclus. It shows that our investment in mobile technology as a communication medium for gathering meter readings has been right, as it satisfies both the regulatory requirements and gives the energy companies the opportunity to offer their customers more services in the future," says Ivar Grothe, Managing Director at Telenor Cinclus.
More options
By using technology from Telenor Cinclus, Fortum can offer its customers additional services, e.g. burglar and fire alarms, water and gas metering, temperature control or image transfers.
"It is satisfying to see that Fortum chooses to look at the opportunities automatic meter reading presents, instead of just choosing a solution that satisfies the regulatory requirements from the Swedish authorities. This is a trend we also see at other energy companies," Grothe points out.
Leader in the Nordic region
Berg Insight, a business intelligence company, believes that during 2009, 60 per cent of the 13 million Nordic households will rely on automatic meter reading, with Telenor Cinclus aiming to take 30 per cent of this market.
"The agreement with Fortum makes us the leading supplier of automatic meter reading solutions and we are thereby well on our way towards achieving our goal," says Grothe.
For further information, please contact:
Jan Tore Meren, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Telenor Cinclus
Mobile: (+47) 905 92 622, e-mail: jan-tore.meren@telenor.com
Christian Lundberg, Managing Director, Fortum Sweden
Mobile: (+46) 70 344 5807
Elisabeth Petersson, Head of information, Telenor Mobile Sweden
Mob: +46 709 61 42 07, e-post: Elisabeth.Petersson@telenor.com
For further information and downloadable images please go to: www.telenorcinclus.com
About Telenor Cinclus
Telenor Cinclus AS is owned by Telenor (66 per cent), Norway's largest telecommunications provider, and Skagerak Energi (34 per cent) a Norwegian power-grid company. Telenor Cinclus supplies Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) services and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.
About Fortum
Fortum is a leading energy company in the Nordic and Baltic region. The company's operations cover production, distribution and sale of electricity and heating, the production, operation and maintenance of power stations, and energy-related services. The company has 9,000 employees and is listed in Helsinki, Finland.
About automatic meter reading (AMR)
With automatic meter reading (AMR), electricity meters are read and data is sent automatically. Customers will not have to read the meters or submit the readings, and this makes the energy companies more efficient. In addition, AMR solutions will give energy companies opportunities to offer more services, which can create new revenue streams. The number of households with electricity meters in the EU and Nordic region is 230 million and 13 million, respectively.