Metropolis has been engaged by Origin Energy to deliver a versatile and innovative smart metering solution to 7,000 homes and businesses in the northern areas of Adelaide – predominately Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully and Playford.
In August 2006 the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, announced that a consortium, led by Origin Energy, had been chosen to deliver the Adelaide Solar City project focussed
Solar Cities is a Federal Government initiative designed to demonstrate how solar power, smart meters, energy efficiency and new approaches to electricity pricing combine to provide a sustainable energy future in urban locations.
A key component of the Adelaide Solar City project is time-of-use and critical peak pricing trials aimed at shifting electricity consumption from peak to off-peak periods, by testing consumer responsiveness to pricing messages.
To enable such trials Origin Energy require smart meters that communicate with wireless in-home display units, which will be offered to selected consumers.
In-home displays poll the smart meter every few seconds to provide an immediate source of electricity usage and pricing information.
Critical peak pricing is applied during periods of excessively high demand and Metropolis¿s smart meter solution allows Origin Energy to inform customers when the critical peak price is being applied by issuing a command to the smart meter that is then relayed to the in-home display – encouraging consumers to switch off unnecessary appliances to avoid the higher price thereby reducing the risk of enforced load shedding and higher energy prices overall.