Articles

RSS

Utility managers representing diverse customers such as investor-owned utilities PPL Electric Utilities and APS, and large rural utility Umatilla Electric Cooperative, are meeting this week at the headquarters of Aclara Software Inc. in Wellesley to kick off the Aclara MDMS Working Group. Meeting biannually, the newly formed user group will build upon the shared experiences of its members to explore and discuss future development of Aclara's Meter Data Management System (MDMS).

The Aclara MDMS is employed at a broad range of investor-owned, municipal, and cooperative utilities representing more than nine-million customers in North America. The software facilitates the Smart Grid and other Intelligent Infrastructure™ solutions, interfacing with electric, gas, and water AMI systems to validate, store, and distribute the large volumes of data they collect. It lays the groundwork for demand-response and price-responsive rate programs that encourage customers to conserve. Additionally, Aclara solutions perform advanced load forecasting, revenue-assurance assessment, and AMI-enabled load and rate analysis.

"The MDMS Working Group provides an open forum for our clients, who are in different stages of development. They are brought together to discuss their application issues and experiences, with a solutions-oriented focus," said Jackie Lemmerhirt, Senior Director, Product Management for Aclara and organizer of the Working Group. "Aclara MDMS will allow our clients to deploy demand-response and price-responsive rate programs, which will encourage their customers to conserve."

Discussions at the meeting will center on issues key to successful implementations including data processing and ownership, the impact of MDMS on business processes, pain points and challenges, and future requirements. The next meeting of the Aclara MDMS Working Group is scheduled in conjunction with the Aclara Client Conference, May 10-13, 2010.

About Aclara
The Aclara brand represents the industry's leading Intelligent Infrastructure™ technologies for providing device networking, datavalue management, and customer communications to water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Over 500 utilities in nine countries rely on proven Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Aclara is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc., St. Louis. www.Aclara.com.

SOURCE: Aclara