Stadtwerke (Town Works) Erding is implementing a smart grid pilot installation that will consolidate and report data to homeowners on energy and utility usage, including electricity, gas, water and heating.

The smart meters are connected to a central office for analysis and planning via a data concentrator, providing data to optimise usage efficiency and minimising waste. Benchmarking data from last year will contribute to emissions and efficiency programmes in 2010 and beyond.

“The municipality of Erding is making history by applying the benefits of smart grid technologies across all of the utilities in a home, maximising the ways we can understand and lessen their effect on our planet,” says Keith Redfearn, General Manager of GE’s Transmission and Distribution business in Europe.

By consolidating infrastructure, the programme also delivers operational advantages, reducing up-front costs and allowing other communications-dependent functions like security, health, safety and assisted living monitoring to be added as the city develops those solutions, GE says.