Burlington Hydro has selected Elster’s EnergyAxis System to support the utility’s GridSmartCity vision. The Burlington Hydro contract represents the ninth contract signing for an Ontario utility with Elster in the last month.

GridSmartCity is Burlington Hydro’s initiative to begin transforming today’s electricity system into the smart grid of tomorrow. With GridSmartCity, Burlington Hydro is accelerating this process by partnering with technology developers and other interested firms to combine all the major elements of a smart grid into an integrated suite of projects that will demonstrate the full capabilities of a smart grid. As part of the GridSmartCity initiative, Burlington Hydro will install EnergyAxis smart meters, related communication equipment and back office systems with installations beginning this spring and completion expected by 2010.

To meet Ontario's Smart Meter Initiative, the Ontario government has established a goal of collecting hourly interval data from every home in the province by 2010. The EnergyAxis System will allow Burlington Hydro to leverage the collected hourly usage data, and then implement actions to help its consumers better understand and manage their electrical usage in support of the utility’s energy conservation efforts. The system will also provide valuable information for future smart grid applications.

The EnergyAxis System is already employed by other Ontario utilities and currently gathers more than 1 million meter points of hourly billing data from a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial Ontario energy consumers.