Landis+Gyr, a global energy management solutions provider, announced it has joined as a founding partner in the Biggest Energy Saver Campaign, a national program aimed at promoting energy conservation among U.S. electricity consumers.

The campaign is operated by Grid21, a new non-profit committed to helping consumers manage energy better. The program brings together the most innovative leaders in the smart grid industry.

The campaign, according to its founding members, is the first of its kind in the nation and is aimed at demonstrating the benefits of using information from smart meters that allow utilities and consumers to track energy consumption in real-time.

As part of this initiative, Landis+Gyr announced partnership with Texas-based utilities Oncor and CenterPoint Energy, as well as San Diego Gas and Electric in California to launch the Biggest Energy Saver Campaign.

Landis+Gyr has been active in the design and launch of the program. The Biggest Energy Saver Campaign will feature a customer-savings contest sponsored by Grid21.  The campaign will drive the creation and use of customer-friendly tools for managing home energy consumption.  

The second part of Biggest Energy Saver contest is a nationwide call to create software applications that will enable consumers to better monitor and reduce home energy consumption.  The prize offer may go up to $150,000.

“Landis+Gyr is proud to be a part of this nationwide effort, supporting our utility clients as they engage energy consumers to manage energy better,” said Jerry Figurilli, Landis+Gyr's chief operating officer for North America, in a statement. “Over the past three years, Landis+Gyr has partnered with Oncor to deploy nearly two million smart meters, one of the largest and most successful roll outs in the U.S.”

The announcement was made at the White House, where approximately 150 industry executives gathered to address the challenges standing in the way of electric grid modernization.

The program was also attended by Aneesh Chopra, United States chief technology officer; and Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu.

“Landis+Gyr recognizes there remains plenty of work to be done to create a smart grid that is worthy of the 21st century,” said Figurilli. “The Biggest Energy Saver Campaign, by using proven technology to drive innovation and engagement, is aimed at helping speed up the process.”

Recently Landis+Gyr signed  a $350 million contract with North American utility Hydro-Quebec to deploy the next generation digital smart meter network for the utility.

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Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell