Local software companies to assist BC Hydro with smart meter deployment
VANCOUVER – BC Hydro has selected Vancouver-based Bit Stew Systems Inc. and Clevest Solutions Inc. of Richmond, B.C. to assist with the deployment of smart meters to 1.8 million customers throughout British Columbia.
Both companies will provide software solutions and communications infrastructure to enable safe and efficient smart meter installation.
Starting this month, BC Hydro is beginning to upgrade old electromechanical meters with the new digital smart meters. All customers will receive advance notice that smart meters are coming to their community, including a letter from BC Hydro a few weeks prior to their installation date.
Installation will be simple and will only take a matter of minutes, and in most cases customers will not need to be home.
Bit Stew will help to make this deployment easier and give BC Hydro the tools to manage and track the electricity grid upgrade using a real-time interactive map. The map shows open, active and closed smart meter work orders as meters are installed across the province. The software also flags outages and meters that have been tampered with.
Clevest's software will increase the productivity of smart meter installers through efficient scheduling and dispatching of workers. The system also tracks the meter inventory through barcode scanning, photos and GPS mapping.
Smart meters will help modernize BC Hydro's electricity grid. Having a smarter grid will help:
- improve efficiency with less wasted electricity;
- improve reliability by identifying where power outages exist;
- operating efficiencies and service;
- make possible energy conservation;
- assist in keeping consumer data secure and private;
- help to keep hydro rates lower than they would otherwise be.
A smarter grid will also help to ensure BC Hydro can continue to deliver safe, reliable and cost effective electricity to customers across the province.
About Bit Stew
Founded in 2005, Bit Stew Systems, Inc. started with the vision of building a robust scalable software platform that provides real-time analytics, dynamic event management and a fast and easy way to integrate other applications.
Today, Bit Stew is setting the energy industry standard with its Grid Director 2.0 Platform for the new world of smart energy – a world of real-time customer interaction, automated workforce deployment and a single view into the new smart grid. For more information on Bit Stew's solutions, visit www.bitstew.com.
About Clevest
Clevest Solutions Inc. is the leader in smart grid deployment & post-deployment maintenance solutions software and is the fastest-growing provider of mobile workforce management solutions in the utilities industry.
Clevest's application suite provides modular tools that include dispatching, scheduling, AVL, in-vehicle navigation, mobile and a patent pending configuration tool. The company's award winning application integrates the latest innovations in software, wireless technologies and mobile devices to get jobs done faster, smoother, safer and increase efficiency and reliability.
Clevest Solution’s head office is located in Richmond, B.C. For more information on Clevest Solutions visit www.clevest.com.
About BC Hydro
British Columbia is growing, and so is the need for electricity. BC Hydro is dedicated to fulfilling its goal of meeting at least 66 per cent of the province’s future electricity needs through conservation by 2020.
But in order to meet the remaining demand and continue to ensure a clean, reliable supply of energy, BC Hydro is investing now in the projects that are needed to keep the lights on in B.C. for the next 50 years.
Contact
Jett Winter
Bit Stew Systems, Inc.
Email: jett@bitstew.com
Aaron Cruikshank, Marketing Manager
Clevest Solutions Inc.
Email: aaron.cruikshank@clevest.com,
Phone: 604 214 9700 x267
BC Hydro Media Relations
Phone: 604 928 6468