SmartSynch's Johnston Among Presenters at Canada Power Conference

Toronto, Ontario — September 30, 2004

Stephen Johnston, CEO of Mississippi-based SmartSynch, was among key industry presenters this week at Canada Power, a conference and exhibition for the Canadian power industry. Johnston presented a white paper entitled “The Role of Smart Metering Technology in Managing Ontario’s Growing Energy Demand.”

SmartSynch, located in Jackson, is the leading provider of wireless, commercial and industrial smart metering solutions for the energy and utility industry. The company has sold more than 50,000 C&I SmartMeters since May 2000 and its system is the primary C&I smart metering technology for 25 major utilities throughout the United States. SmartSynch launched its market leading technology in Canada in 2004 and is partnered with a number of leading Canadian companies.

In an effort to alleviate the growing specter of an energy supply shortfall, Ontario recently announced new energy policies, including the implementation of smart metering technology to help curtail peak energy demand. Johnston’s presentation outlined the benefits of this new technology, which SmartSynch has pioneered through its SmartMeter System. The SmartMeter System enables energy and utility companies to communicate with commercial and industrial electricity meters using wireless communications and the Internet so that they can request and retrieve critical usage and rate information from the meters without costly site visits.

“Unless solutions are identified and implemented, Ontario’s peak demand could exceed supply as early as 2006,” Johnston said. “Ontario has already committed to implement smart metering technology to help address energy challenges, and SmartSynch hopes to be a part of that solution.”

This year’s Canada Power Conference focused on a number of recommendations presented to government officials for addressing the province’s energy issues and the introduction of conservation-based approaches for managing peak demand. In his presentation, Johnston discussed proven smart metering technologies that enable utilities to structure their rate offerings, thus creating incentives for end users to shift energy consumption to off-peak times. Likewise, these same technologies empower end users to exercise lower cost options of the new rate structures.

Within the past year, Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan outlined a new energy policy to establish pricing plans based on time-of-use rates, which will serve as an incentive to help shift energy consumption to lower-use periods. This policy, along with the introduction of new price structures, will require the use of sophisticated metering devices that enable suppliers and consumers to better manage their usage.

Johnston said public utilities in both the United States and other countries will seek solutions to managing peak demand in the years ahead, and will look more at smart metering technologies. He said that implementation of smart metering for large Commercial & Industrial (C&I) customers, especially those over 50 kW in demand, provides both the greatest reduction in peak demand and the best overall return on investment and should therefore have top priority as new metering technology is implemented.

The Role of Smart Metering Technology in Managing Ontario’s Growing Energy Demand

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