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devices from the very beginning of the implementation. Two-way communication throughout the metering chain was an absolute necessity – remote controls of relays and connecting/disconnecting loads were regarded as very important functionalities, as were remote firmware upgrades, and the system had to adapt CLOSER TO THE SMART GRID flexibly to TAURON’s existing IT infrastructure. “The TAURON Dystrybucja is preparing for a full rollout of project was very instructive for both organizations. smart meters to its entire base of 5.3 million customers The massive data flow increase is like a stress test for by 2020, in accordance with regulations in Poland our customer’s IT infrastructure and challenges us to and the EU. In order to prepare for the rollout, the help them in the best possible way,” says Szymanski. project was completed by the end of 2011. Based on the results, the distribution system operator will be SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS able to identify and establish best practices across In total, the TAURON Dystrybucja Group has a domestic the business, from logistics to IT infrastructure and customer base of 5.2 million – 33% of the total internal administrative resources. It will also gain a population. The company delivers 23% of the electricity solid understanding as to how it, and its customer in Poland and operates on 18.3% of the country's base, can maximize the benefits that smart metering surface area.“TAURON expects to reap significant technology offers. benefits from this smart metering investment,” said TAURON Dystrybucja CEO Piotr Kołodziej. “While “We are very happy with Landis+Gyr’s comprehensive still only in the pilot phase, the system has shown its Gridstream solution. Due to their broad experience ® capability potential in terms of identifying technical in smart metering, we knew that they could provide us losses within the network as well as losses caused with functionality that delivers a lot more than just billing by tampering.” values – their advanced network monitoring tools are bringing us one step closer to a smart grid,” said CEO At the same time, 600 TAURON customers took part Piotr Kołodziej after the pilot successful completion. in a successful energy efficiency pilot enabled by Landis+Gyr’s solution. On a general level, TAURON can Rapid smart metering development in Poland follows now optimize its customer service further; the system the signing of a declaration in June 2009, calling delivers nearly real-time consumption information for the introduction of smart metering in Poland to and enables on-demand reading requests as well increase energy efficiency for individual, institutional as remote load control. TAURON’s end customers and industrial customers. The declaration is supported participating in the pilot can track their personal by the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency as consumption data via a web portal. First results of well as the three largest consumer organizations.. the web portal availability show that customers are initially enthusiastic about the increased control over their energy use. However, in order to maintain their enthusiasm for energy savings over the longer term, additional demand response programs need to be put in place, as awareness alone is not enough.