Silver Spring platform provides insights for the smart-meter-less

Silver Spring Networks has released a new energy monitoring platform that lets utilities provide customers with daily insights into their consumption patterns even if they don’t yet have a smart meter installed.

The CustomerIQ2.0 platform is designed for both residential and commercial utility customers.

“Utilities no longer have to wait until they’ve deployed a smart grid to leverage our energy web portal as part of changing their relationship with the consumer,” said Matt Smith, senior director of product management at Silver Spring. “With this release, CustomerIQ has become a ‘platform for all,’ with the flexibility to inform and engage all customers at any point in time, and its functionality grows with utilities as they expand their consumer engagement.”

The new platform can provide residential customers without smart meters billing data and information from daily legacy meter readings. This will help utilities engage customers in improved energy management even before smart meters are installed, according to Silver Spring. They can then provide more, and higher resolution, data after more advanced meters are deployed.

For commercial customers who already have smart meters, the CustomerIQ 2.0 platform can help deliver more specific analyses of such things as charges for demand, power factor and reactive power. Because these charges can account for as much as one-third of a commercial customer’s total bill, insights into these details are crucial for managing energy use and costs, according to Silver Spring.

Existing Silver Spring utility clients are expected to begin deploying CustomerIQ 2.0 later this month.