Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), a subsidiary of Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), announced that it will work with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) to implement its recently approved smart meter program for 1.2 million electricity customers.
Accenture will provide systems integration services including the
design, build and management of a customer web portal, meter data
management system, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), and
integration related to BGE's customer care and billing and outage
management systems. Accenture also will provide project management
support through planning, execution, field deployment and change
management activities.
BGE's smart meter network will leverage Oracle's utilities meter data
management system to help manage and analyze high volumes of meter data
more effectively while providing customers with detailed energy usage
data, which is expected to result in decreased peak energy consumption
and electric bills. BGE also plans to integrate the meter data
management system with its existing Oracle utilities network (outage)
management system to enhance outage management processes with near
real-time outage and restoration verification capabilities.
Earlier this month BGE announced the choice of Silver Spring Networks to provide the smart grid platform and software.
Combined with BGE's energy efficiency and demand response initiatives, the smart is expected to help the state of Maryland achieve its goal of a 15% reduction in total system demand by 2015 (under the EmPOWER Maryland initiative).
As part of its implementation of smart grid, BGE plans to be one of the first utilities in the nation to offer smart energy pricing, whereby customers can earn rebates for reducing electricity usage during peak times of the day. In 2008 and 2009 respectively, BGE, with the support of Accenture, conducted two smart energy pricing pilots during which participating households reduced peak energy consumption ranging from 22% to 37%. BGE estimates reduction in energy usage will ease the need for future power generation plants and other capacity upgrades which will reduce costs for BGE and its customers.
