Canadian utility prepares to roll out 1.8m smart meters

Canada’s BC Hydro is enlisting the help of two British Columbia-based firms as it prepares to begin rolling out smart meters to 1.8 million customers starting this month.

The utility will launch the deployment with the help of software and communications infrastructure from Vancouver-based Bit Stew Systems and Clevest Solutions of Richmond, British Columbia.

Bit Stew will help help BC Hydro manage and track the electricity grid upgrade using a real-time interactive map. The map shows open, active and closed smart-meter work orders as meters are installed across the province. The software also flags outages and meters that have been tampered with.

Clevest’s software will be used to help with efficient scheduling and dispatching of workers. The system also tracks the meter inventory through barcode scanning, photos and GPS mapping.