The City of Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission honored Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) with a 2002 Productivity Improvement Award for its installation of the SmartMeter System from SmartSynch, a leading provider of smart metering solutions to the energy and utility industry. Collectively, the 21 award winners in 2002 are generating more than $33 million in efficiencies, cost savings and new revenue development for the city of Los Angeles, with almost half of that coming from LADWP's installation of the SmartMeter System, which is expected to generate $16 million in savings per year.
The Productivity Improvement Awards "recognize best-in-class, cost-effective delivery of services to the neighborhoods and communities of Los Angeles. According to Mayor Jim Hahn, the award winners "demonstrate that [Los Angeles] can and does provide cost-effective and responsive services to [its] citizens." According to the city, LADWP deserved the award because the SmartMeter System from SmartSynch helps "manage energy consumption on a real-time basis, especially in energy-scarce times," which will result in tremendous cost savings per year.
Combining SmartMeters™, Transaction Management System (TMS) software, an advanced communication network and the Internet, the SmartMeter System manages the real time, two-way delivery of critical usage, power quality and reliability, and pricing information between electricity generators, transmission organizations, utilities, retail energy service providers, and the customer. It is the only system that provides the necessary architecture for real-time energy management solutions, such as real time pricing, voluntary load curtailment and verification.
LADWP is deploying the SmartMeter System to more than 3,400 commercial and industrial customers—which include manufacturing facilities, large retail outlets and office buildings that consume more than 40 percent of the LADWP electricity load—to help reduce electricity demand by up to 240 megawatts. In addition, LADWP expects the new SmartMeter System to reduce electricity bills by 15 percent and free up enough energy to power 240,000 homes.
"As the Western States struggle with forecast increased energy demand, LADWP is implementing aggressive energy management programs with our customers," said Randy Howard, Manager of Commercial Services for LADWP. "The SmartMeter System from SmartSynch puts real-time power consumption knowledge in the hands of L.A. businesses. This award proves that we have provided a solution that gives commercial business the knowledge to conserve or shift energy use when power demand is high to low-peak, cost-effective time consumption time frames."
Added Mark Rodgers, CEO of SmartSynch: "SmartSynch really enjoyed partnering with LADWP on this project. It has been very rewarding to see the impact that LADWP is having on the city's energy consumption."
SmartSynch, an energy technology company based in Jackson, MS, is the leading provider of smart metering solutions to the energy and utility industry. Its core product, the SmartMeter System, enables energy and utility companies to communicate with commercial and industrial electricity meters using wireless communications and the Internet. The SmartMeter System manages the delivery of critical information to any application system, workstation, computer, or browser enabled personal communications device. For more information, visit www.smartsynch.com.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power serves more than 3.8 million people in Los Angeles and was established almost 100 years ago to provide water and electric needs to the city's businesses and residents. For more information about the LADWP's energy efficiency programs, call 1 800 Green LA, or log on to www.greenla.com.