Siemens Metering Services Announces Reseller Partnership with GridPoint to Deliver Smart Energy Management Solutions for Business

ARLINGTON, Va., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The new partnership, with primary focus on the UK and European market, enhances Siemens' existing smart energy metering portfolio, designed to drive major cost and efficiency savings in customers' operations.  The partnership benefits both brands by adding real-time submetering capability to Siemens Metering Services' offering to business customers and expanding GridPoint's footprint in this key market. Energy consumers and providers will now be able to make use of a leading edge commercial energy management and submetering platform offering an advanced, navigable and proven path to smarter energy management.

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Two of the biggest challenges faced by business today are the escalating costs of energy and the increasing need to meet their carbon reduction commitments (CRCs). Energy bills represent a significant portion of operating cost within the business, so, finding ways to reduce this has a strong commercial imperative. Many firms also have distributed sites, making energy usage difficult to control at the local level. Staff at these sites often overrides corporate HQ controls in an effort to meet their own local targets. Behaviors can be difficult to change, but submetering solutions offer a way to help businesses understand site and equipment level consumption, which can be used to drive positive change. The agreement enhances Siemens existing energy management and metering solutions offering and strengthens the company's commitment to helping its customers obtain greater energy efficiencies in all areas of the business.

Whether the business is a supermarket, construction firm, or financial institution, Siemens provides the experience and deep energy management process expertise to help companies understand consumption usage and patterns and how to optimize their energy management practices. GridPoint Energy Management System provides a firm's energy manager with targeted real-time ability to monitor and control energy use and to deliver consumption savings of 10-20% or more. Detailed submetering data at site/equipment meter level reveals priority areas for eliminating costs, leading to accelerated ROI (return on investment), typically in two years or less.

Mark Farrington, global business development director for Siemens Metering Services explains: "Energy Management has always been a key business issue for our customers; but now it is moving directly to the top of their agendas with many companies now employing energy or environmental managers.  This is because energy costs are becoming one of the most costly commodities in a company's business operation.  Cost management, together with the need to actively manage their green agenda, makes our real-time metering solutions a compelling solution, providing valuable information for managers to identify efficiency improvements, achieve carbon reductions and drive cost savings."

Michael Donohue, executive vice president for GridPoint, comments on the new partnership: "We are delighted to be working together with Siemens in this key market. There is a natural synergy between the two businesses, both strong brands in energy management solutions. GridPoint brings new submetering capability to enhance Siemens' portfolio, and we believe we can offer the same benefits to European customers that we have to many leading U.S. and global brands."

About Siemens in the UK

Siemens was established in the United Kingdom 167 years ago and now employs 16,915 people in the UK. Last year's revenues were £4.2 billion. As a leading global engineering and technology services company, Siemens provides innovative solutions to help tackle the world's major challenges, across the key sectors of energy, industry and healthcare. Siemens has offices and factories throughout the UK, with its headquarters in Frimley, Surrey. The company's global headquarters is in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk

About GridPoint

GridPoint is committed to building a clean, efficient energy future.  GridPoint empowers key stakeholders in the energy ecosystem with the visibility and control required to more efficiently consume, generate and distribute energy.  The company's smart energy solutions consist of hardware, software and services that integrate, aggregate and manage sources of energy consumption, generation and storage.  An enterprise-class platform provides a shared foundation for our products, creating a common point of integration, asset provisioning and real-time management.  For more information, please visit www.gridpoint.com

SOURCE GridPoint