Telenor into the Swedish fuse box

Press release
Fornebu
6 minute read
E.ON, Sweden's largest energy supplier, chooses Telenor Cinclus to supply new meter reading technology in the largest agreement of its kind in Sweden, worth approximately SEK 350 million.

Under the agreement, Telenor and TietoEnator will supply Automatic Metering Reading (AMR) systems to 141,000 electricity customers in Skåne in Southern Sweden.

"Sweden is the most advanced European market for automatic meter reading, so this agreement is an important breakthrough in terms of our investment and an important indication to us that our expertise and solutions in this area are forward-looking and competitive," says Ivar Grothe, Managing Director at Telenor Cinclus.

Under the project, TietoEnator will be responsible for project management and Telenor will supply the entire communication solution, including meters. Through their suppliers Oy Comsel System and Eltel Networks, Telenor Cinclus will provide and install the actual AMR units.

The agreement with E.ON was won in competition with leading suppliers in the AMR market.

"This agreement is another step in our work to improve and simplify the services we offer our customers. The well-established cooperation between TietoEnator and Telenor means that we have a complete solution that satisfies our customers' and our own future needs for efficiently handling meter values," says Thomas Thorkelsson, Project Manager for the AMR project at E.ON Sverige AB.

Large project

The roll-out of automatic meter reading for the 141,000 E.ON customers will begin in the Spring and take two years. This is equivalent to 250 installations a day, and will employ at least 25 installators in Skåne.

"This is an big project and I am proud and pleased that E.ON trusts Telenor Cinclus to provide the expertise and experience to handle projects of this scale," says Grothe.

Several offers

In total, E.ON has 1.26 million customers in the Nordic region, of which one million are in Sweden. This is the biggest contract E.ON Sweden has announced for automatic meter reading solutions and the company has already announced the next tender which is for 380,000 metering points.

"We will also put in a bid for this tender," says Grothe.

Significant market potential

There are approximately 5.2 million households in Sweden and legislation just passed involves all households installing automatic meter reading systems by July 2009.

In the Nordic region the total number of households is around 13 million and Berg Insight, a business intelligence company, predicts that by 2010 60 per cent of these will use automatic meter reading, with Telenor Cinclus aiming to supply 30 per cent of this market.

"We have a technology platform that allows power-grid companies to offer services beyond automatic meter reading, for example, alarms, water and gas metering, temperature control or image transfers. We think that many power-grid companies find the possibility to supply value-adding services such as these attractive," says Grothe.

For further information please contact:

Ivar Grothe, Managing Director at Telenor Cinclus,

tel.: +47 6789 0000, mob.: +47 905 86 849 or

e-mail: ivar.grothe@telenor.com

Jan Tore Meren, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Telenor Cinclus

tel.: +47 6789 0000, mob.: +47 905 92 622

e-mail: jan-tore.meren@telenor.com

About Telenor Cinclus

Telenor Cinclus AS is owned by Telenor (66 per cent), Norway's largest supplier of telecommunication, and Skagerak Energi (34 per cent) a Norwegian power-grid company. Telenor Cinclus supplies Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) services and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.

For further information, please see http://www.telenorcinclus.com/ .

About E.ON

The E.ON group is made up of approximately 50 companies and subsidiaries in Europe and the USA and has its headquarters in Dösseldorf, Germany. The company employs approximately 77,000 people, has an annual turnover of around SEK 500 billion and, in 2004, had an operating profit (EBIT) of SEK 70 billion. E.ON is the world's largest privately owned energy company, with approximately 35 million gas and hydro-power customers.

E.ON Sverige, a subsidiary, has over 5,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 24 billion.

About TietoEnator

TietoEnator is the Nordic region's largest supplier of IT services and has a turnover of approximately EUR 1.5 billion. The company specialises in consultancy, development, operation and management of its customers' business systems in the digital economy. TietoEnator employs 13,000 experts in more than 20 countries.