PortaOne, Inc. has unveiled PortaMDM, a meter data management and billing software platform for utilities. Compatible with all major brands of smart meters, PortaMDM is a unified, real-time billing and SCADA  application that brings flexibility to smart metering networks, driving increased end-user efficiency and creating profit opportunities.

PortaMDM is an all-in-one solution tailored to the needs of medium-to-large smart metering networks and AMR setups. Also suitable for residential, commercial and industrial submetering systems, the platform gathers and accumulates usage data from smart meters, processes the data, and then rates it according to the service provider's particular billing configuration. PortaMDM also supports Google PowerMeter, enabling users and providers alike to view energy consumption from any Web browser, in real time.

"PortaOne has nearly 15 years of experience delivering world-class, battle tested billing and customer management software to network service providers. All of our knowledge has been applied to PortaMDM, with the goal of making it the best and most forward-thinking product of its kind," said Roman Khalenkov, sales and marketing director for PortaOne. "PortaMDM not only scales to meet any size customer base, but also provides the flexible business rules and product features that drive both income and customer convenience."

PortaMDM is compatible with all major meter brands including Veris, Acuvim, Dent, Contrel and Conzerv. Its versatile billing engine allows service providers to bill customers directly according to any rating scheme the provider chooses; different rates, for example, can be applied based on time of day, reactive energy, or committed volume.

Customers are able to manage many aspects of their provisioning and account maintenance themselves, thanks to PortaMDM's easy-to-use self care pages. Providers and customers alike can dynamically monitor usage in real time—and through the interface, providers can introduce relevant, customized energy conservation tips that both manage and optimize consumption throughout the service day.

On the billing side, PortaMDM includes an extremely flexible billing engine that can rate consumption data according to the configuration, rules and tariffs set by the utility or, in commercial settings, the property manager. Statements can be used for invoicing, accounting, and payments; customer notices and statements can be delivered automatically via email.

PortaMDM creates broad opportunities for utilities, independent power producers, non-utility generators and power generation co-ops, as well as commercial and residential property owners and management, to offer new and more creative approaches to optimize consumption, revenue and profits. For example, PortaMDM can gather and manage electricity usage data in multi-tenant office buildings, shopping malls, commercial plazas, industrial buildings and workshops. Any combination of meter brands, data formats and measurement units can be collected and mediated under one unified system.

With the proliferation of renewable energy sources (wind, hydropower, biogas, biomass, solar power, etc.), Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Non-Utility Generators (NUGs) have emerged. PortaMDM allows these entities to set up Net Energy Metering (NEM) with incumbent utilities to reduce operations costs. For those companies that have guaranteed access to the grid with long-term contracts and whose power generation sales are not just by-products, PortaMDM can separate home-generated energy consumption, calculating Feed-In Tariffs (FiT) to introduce an additional source of revenue. Additional benefits are possible for small IPPs and NUGs united in utility cooperatives or power generation co-ops.