Kansas City Board of Public Utilities Adds eMeter, IBM, Siemens to Their Smart Grid Team

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens has teamed up with the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (KCBPU), a publicly owned provider of electricity and water services to residences and businesses across Kansas City, Kan., to deliver eMeter Smart Grid Appliances. Each appliance includes a preloaded, rapidly deployable instance of eMeter® EnergyIP® meter data management system (MDMS) with IBM Tivoli and WebSphere software running on IBM Power Systems.

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This partnership will support a network of more than 69,000 electric meters and 55,000 water meters. KCBPU has also contracted with Siemens for the implementation of eMeter Energy Engage™, eMeter's customer web portal, to display consumer usage information to enhance the overall smart grid experience. Implementation for both the MDMS and web portal began in September of this year.

"KCBPU is confident that once eMeter EnergyIP is installed, the MDMS will serve as our Smart Metering focal point, the system of record for all meter data," said Bill Johnson, Manager of Electric Operations & Technology at KCBPU. "A project that comes in on time and on budget is important to us, and by working with Siemens, a company known for its project management rigor, we trust that will happen. We also strive to empower our customers to make intelligent consumption choices, which will be made possible through eMeter Energy Engage."

"By implementing these appliances, Siemens will help KCBPU reduce execution and test cycle time by a considerable amount," said Thierry Godart, president Smart Grid Division, Siemens Infrastructure and Cities, North America. "We, along with our partner eMeter, strive to provide KCBPU a secure MDMS, which will empower them to operate more effectively and truly engage their consumers to make more informed usage decisions."

IBM is also bringing their world-class technologies to the project. The Smart Grid Appliance is a pre-integrated, readily scalable, bundled solution of all the server hardware and software needed to put smart metering initiatives on the right track from day one. This first-of-a-kind offering with IBM enables the smallest to the largest utilities the ability to quickly realize the benefits of the Smart Grid, build more impactful demand management capabilities, and improve operational efficiencies and customer service responsiveness.

"By leveraging IBM technology, KCBPU will be able to streamline their Advance Metering Infrastructure projects and reduce implementation and operational costs associated with their smart grid programs," said Anna W. Topol, chief technology officer for energy and utilities, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "This serves as another example of IBM and its partners working together to help transition the world towards smarter energy and, ultimately, a smarter planet."

About KCBPU

KCBPU's water department was originally created in 1909, and its electric utility was operational in 1912. The purpose of the utility, then and to this day, is to provide the highest quality electric and water services at the lowest possible cost. Today the publicly owned utility serves approximately 65,000 electric and 51,000 water customers, primarily in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The mission of the utility and its employees is "to focus on the needs of our customers, to improve the quality of life in our community while promoting safe, reliable and sustainable utilities." KCBPU's Web site is www.bpu.com.

About Siemens

The Siemens Smart Grid Division supplies products and solutions for intelligent and flexible electrical network infrastructures. To meet growing energy needs, the networks of today and tomorrow must integrate all forms of power generation and ensure bi-directional energy and communication flows. Intelligent networks help make it possible to generate and use power efficiently and on demand. They contribute to the electrification of railroads and also supply industrial enterprises, infrastructure elements and entire cities with electricity. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/smartgrid.

About eMeter

eMeter provides essential software that enables electric, gas and water utilities to realize the full benefits of Smart Grid. Leading utilities worldwide depend on eMeter Smart Grid Management software to reduce operational costs, improve customer service, and drive energy efficiency. With the most large-scale deployments in the industry and strategic partnerships with Accenture, IBM, Logica, and Siemens, eMeter has built a reputation for unparalleled expertise that ensures customer success. For more information visit: www.emeter.com.

IBM and Smart Grid

IBM is involved in more than 150 smart grid engagements around the world, in both mature and emerging markets. More about IBM's vision to bring a new level of intelligence to how the world works—how every person, business, organization, government, natural system, and man-made system interacts, can be found here: www.ibm.com/smarterplanet.

For more information on IBM: www.ibm.com.

IBM, Tivoli, WebSphere and Power Systems are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

SOURCE Siemens