A new expanded Metering Service Agreement (MSA) between Intellihub and major Australian energy retailer Origin Energy, will continue to provide long term growth to the Intellihub smart metering and data intelligence business.

The new MSA was signed this week, with final completion expected the first half of 2022, and will build on the existing agreement between Origin and Intellihub as its Metering Service Provider.

Intellihub CEO Wes Ballantine said the new agreement would deliver significant growth to Intellihub’s already increasing pipeline of smart meter deployments.

“Smart meters play a crucial role in the rapid digitisation and decarbonisation of energy markers across the region,” Mr Ballantine said.

“Record levels of rooftop solar and predicted increases in batteries, load control, electric vehicles and other behind the meter services are driving significant demand for smart metering and data solutions.

“Intellihub is pleased to be a central part of that energy transition by providing leading smart metering technology to Origin Energy.”

Additionally, Intellihub had also agreed to purchase a significant number of embedded network meters from Origin Energy and utility service provider WinConnect.

Intellihub welcomes global asset manager Brookfield as strategic investor

Mr Ballantine also welcomed Brookfield Asset Management as a new strategic investor in the company alongside Pacific Equity Partners’ Secure Assets Fund.

Once the transaction is completed, Intellihub will be owned by Brookfield and PEP as a 50/50 joint venture.

“The transaction will drive our continued leadership in the smart metering and data intelligence market,” he said.

“Intellihub’s new strategic relationship with Brookfield will provide additional access to expertise and capital to keep us at the forefront of Australia’s energy transition.”

As part of the transaction, Brookfield will purchase Landis+Gyr’s interest in Intellihub.

“We look forward to a continued and long-term relationship with Landis+Gyr as a supplier of leading smart meter solutions,” Mr Ballantine said.

Read more: Intellihub welcomes Brookfield as strategic investor

The rapid rollout of Intellihub’s smart meters across Australia and New Zealand will be funded by a new Green Loan that will be the first of its kind to receive certification under the Electrical Grids and Storage criteria by the Climate Bonds Standard (CBS).

Intellihub shareholder Pacific Equity Partners announced the Green Loan certification today that will allow Intellihub to access important additional sources of green-linked financial capital.

Intellihub’s Green Loan is the first in the world to meet the Climate Bonds Initiative’s (CBI) strict criteria for Electrical Grids and Storage and demonstrates the essential role of the smart meter in helping to build grid resilience and facilitate the transition to Net Zero Emissions.

Part of the requirements of a CBS Certified green loan is the level of accountability required by the issuer.

Intellihub has established its own Sustainable Finance Framework setting out how it will manage the funds, which has been independently assured by EY.

Reports are made annually throughout the term of the loan which show funds are being used to provide products and services that have climate integrity through both their contribution to climate mitigation and their adaptation and resilience to climate change.

Intellihub CEO Wes Ballantine said smart meters were an essential part of energy systems for retailers, network operators and consumers.

“The energy sector across the world is evolving rapidly,” Mr Ballantine said.

“We are seeing rapid increases in solar penetration and energy businesses are digitising, decarbonising and decentralising their operations.

“Smart meters are playing a crucial role in supporting this transition across Australia and New Zealand.

“They’re also providing vital data and services to energy networks which helps manage peak demand, the impact of increasing penetration of solar energy and keeps the electricity grid safe and secure.”

The news comes as the Clean Energy Council marks the installation of three million Australian homes with solar energy systems. The smart meter is crucial in enabling homes with solar PV to participate in the two way flow of energy, demand response, smart home orchestration, improved network productivity and a more reliable grid.

Smart meters also provide insights in real-time; optimise the home for solar, batteries and electric vehicles; and enable new services like demand response and virtual power plants.

Smart meters have been the default meter in Australia since late 2017, however only one in four meters across the country are smart meters.

The Australian Energy Market Commission is undertaking a review into metering regulation with the aim of accelerating deployments of smart meters and increasing the benefits to consumers.

The new green loan facility has been arranged by ANZ, BNP, Crédit Agricole, MUFG, NAB, SMBC and Société Générale, with ANZ acting as sole Green Loan Coordinator for Intellihub.

The loan terms have been set at investment grade levels, reflecting the quality of Intellihub’s smart meter and data intelligence business and the internationally recognised green status of the loan.

The Climate Bonds Standard and Certification Scheme is an easy-to-use screening tool that provides a clear signal to investors and intermediaries on the climate integrity of certified climate bonds and loans.

A key part of the Standard is a suite of sector-specific eligibility Criteria.

Each Sector Criteria sets climate change benchmarks for that sector that are used to screen assets and capital projects so that only those that have climate integrity, through their contribution to climate mitigation, and adaptation and resilience to climate change, will be certified.

Read the full Pacific Equity Partners and Intellihub media release

Australian and New Zealand metering and data intelligence provider Intellihub has been selected as the new metering coordinator for Tasmanian electricity retailer Aurora Energy, under a new long-term partnership.

A Tasmanian focused operation called TasMetering has been set up by Intellihub to deliver metering services to residential and small business customers under the agreement, reflecting a focus on better customer service delivered from a locally based team.

TasMetering will be based in Hobart and led by a team with international experience across some of the world’s largest and complex advanced metering roll outs.

An expanded team of local field technicians will help deliver new advanced meters to homes and businesses across Tasmania under the agreement.

The Tasmanian Government recently committed to the acceleration of advanced meters across the state, with the aim of reaching full deployment by 2026.

Intellihub CEO Adrian Clark said the business was excited and well placed to deliver the program, with a focus on safety and reliability and better customer service.

“Our aim is to set a new benchmark in quality metering in Tasmania,” Mr Clark said.

“This means we will be delivering outstanding customer service to Aurora Energy and its customers, and it means we will be bringing the best technology to showcase right here in Tasmania.

“This includes the next generation in metering and data delivery, and advanced digital tools for customers to schedule, track and give feedback on our service.”

Intellihub’s advanced digital meters not only eliminates estimated reads, but it also unlocks digital services and products for customers.

It’s also capable of dynamic load control, which helps customers save money and install larger solar systems and improves grid safety through improved diagnostics provided to distributors.

Aurora CEO Rebecca Kardos said Aurora looked forward to partnering with TasMetering given the strong alignment in strategic goals, principles and culture between the two companies.

“TasMetering’s drive to provide customers with the best possible experience is something that really resonated with us,” Mrs Kardos said.

“Advanced meters facilitate the development of modern products that empower customers to lower their energy costs.

“When paired with digital or other energy products that provide the metering data in a user friendly and informative way, advanced meters enable Tasmanians to make more informed choices about how and when they use electricity.”

Jon Bruschi has been appointed as CEO of TasMetering, bringing a wealth of experience in metering and IT operations from across the world.

Jon led one of the world’s largest deployments of smart meters in Japan, as well as roll outs across a number of states across the U.S.

He said TasMetering would bring an experienced, reliable and customer focused service to Tasmanian homes and businesses.

“We have established a dedicated and experienced team in Hobart and we’re looking forward to providing the best experience and service for Aurora and its customers.”

Intellihub’s metering technicians have already safely installed and tested the first one thousand meters under the new long-term partnership. We will be building our capabilities to deliver up to 10,000 advanced digital meters each month across the state.

Under the agreement, Intellihub will provide Metering Coordinator, Metering Provider and Metering Data Provider services to Aurora’s residential and small business customers.

Download the media release

We worked with ten of our electricity retail partners to help make the Off Peak + program a success. Smart meters now provide a platform for them to build innovative new customer focused products and services.

The million-meter milestone has just been cracked at Australian and NZ metering and data intelligence specialist Intellihub, as solar installations continue to drive new advanced metering solutions across electricity markets.

The smart meter installation occurred at a home in suburban Sydney as part of the connection requirements for a new rooftop PV system.

The new meter was safely installed by one of Intellihub’s field services crew members servicing customers across the Australian and New Zealand market.

Intellihub’s smart meter not only eliminates estimated reads, but it also unlocks monthly billing for the customer, new prices and products and, importantly, access to new retailers.

It’s also capable of dynamic load control, which helps customers save money and install larger solar systems and also improves grid safety through improved diagnostics provided to distributors.

In the near future, as electric vehicles, batteries and smart home orchestration becomes more common, these latest meters will optimise these behind the meter services to help maximise renewables across the country.

Intellihub Group CEO, Adrian Clark said the Australian market was driving new growth in advanced metering solutions.

“One million meters under management is a special milestone to crack,” Mr Clark said.

“The smart meters we are installing now are a lot different to what was on the market a few years ago. There has been a big focus on the meter offering more to consumers participating in the two-side energy market.

“The New Zealand Market is close to full penetration of smart meters, but the Australian market has been slower at adopting modern metering technology.

“But that is now starting to change, as we’re seeing more Australian homes adopt solar and other behind the meter solutions.”

New Zealand has now reached about 90 per cent smart meter penetration, as a result of improvements to market competition and the economic benefits to both the consumer and the retailer by unlocking smart meter services at scale.

In Australia, metering only became a contestable service across the electricity market in late 2017 following reforms backed by state and federal governments.

The outlier was Victoria which opted to delay the introduction of competition by keeping metering as a monopoly service.

Outside of Victoria, only about one in five meters are modern smart meters, with the remainder old analogue accumulation or time of use meters.

Almost two million of those meters are more than 30 years old and incredibly there are an estimated 365,000 meters in use in Australia that are 50 years or older.

New meter installations are being driven by new or renovated homes and commercial premises connecting to the electricity grid, replacement of failing old meters or by request from customers via their electricity retailer.

However, new household solar installations are driving the lion’s share of new meter connections, with smart meter edge computing technology soon to enable dynamic control and other demand response services.

An estimated 65% of new Intellihub meter installs were driven by solar or other behind the meter services in 2020.

The International Energy Agency recently ranked Australia as number one for the world’s highest solar PV capacity on a per capita basis.

While according to Federal Government estimates, one in four Australian homes now have solar PV installed, and they have been installing it 10 times faster than the global average. It also expects that the generating capacity of small-scale rooftop solar systems will triple by 2030.

More recently, small scale residential and commercial solar installations continue to increase in 2021, with a 23 percent increase in January compared to the same month in 2020.

According to industry analysis from SunWiz, almost 250 megawatts solar PV capacity was added by Australian households and businesses over the month, with NSW and Queensland leading the charge.