The latest energy management programs from the companies usually focus on educating customers on saving and using the energy in an intelligent manner. Continuing this trend, Morristown Utility Systems has added Tantalus' Smart Grid functionality to an existing Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network. This will help the company to interact with customers in cost saving and conservation initiatives.

The Tantalus Utility Network enables a utility to instantly pinpoint outages and track service restoration. To monitor power quality at every endpoint in order to locate power anomalies before they impact revenues or inconvenience customers.

Morristown will make use of Tantalus to transmit meter readings from its 12,000 residential and industrial water accounts. By deploying a Tantalus system, the company can build out the value of the network and set the stage for time-of-use pricing and tightly coordinated load control.

"Tennessee is at the forefront of Smart Grid innovation and application," said Eric Murray, president and CEO of Tantalus. "What's notable is that each utility has different goals and evolution strategies. Some, like Pulaski, Chattanooga and now Morristown want to drive more value from their broadband networks while preparing for TOU pricing and Demand Response. Others use Tantalus' wireless radio solution for advanced metering."

With the Tantalus system, the companies can continually monitor voltage and power quality conditions. So, by leveraging its fiber network for Smart Grid applications, Morristown gets a head start on implementing the energy efficiency and demand response programs proposed by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). Allowing the utility to adjust the supply accordingly in order to minimize energy waste, it gains an accurate, up-to-the-minute report on how much power is flowing over a power line.

Recently, the company announced that it has raised $14 million in equity to fund its ongoing penetration of energy-efficient solutions into co-op and municipal utilities. The financing, led by Redpoint Ventures, included several current investors in the company, said company officials. With revenue growth of more than 150 percent in FY2009 and comparable results forecast for FY2010, Tantalus is on course to be a powerful force.