clients & projects
case studies
Keeping Toronto Utility Consumers Educated and Informed Online - Whitecap Canada Inc. and Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited (THESL) Announce the Launch of the Smart Meter Web Portal
Toronto, Ontario – December 10, 2007 - Whitecap Canada Inc., a leading developer of customized e-business and Internet-based applications, and Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited (THESL), one of the largest municipal electric distribution utilities in Canada, announced today the successful launch of a new web application allowing utility consumers to easily access and understand Time of Day utility consumption rates and pricing: the Smart Meter Customer Self-Service Portal.
Developed as part of a series of THESL initiatives to build customer trust and loyalty through web and wireless technologies, the Smart Meter Portal allows registered Toronto Hydro customers to securely access their personalized usage data over the web via access to THESL's Smart Meter Operational Data Store. The application not only facilitates access to downloads of raw usage data, but also enables utility consumers to effectively analyze and manage their utility consumption, through access to easy to understand tabular and graphical representations of usage data as well as educational information detailing the concepts behind "Time of Use" billing and the goal of energy conservation.
The Smart Meter Portal is expected not only to increase THESL's web presence among the 75% of adult Canadians in Toronto routinely using the Internet, but also to defray anticipated high burdens on the THESL call centres as public interest in Smart Meter technology grows and mandatory "Time of Use" utility billing is introduced across Ontario in 2008. In order to achieve this goal, special care was taken to develop the application to promote a high level of user adoption, through design of a simple-to-navigate interface and strategic inclusion of context-sensitive educational content.
Whitecap plans to make the core technology behind the application available to other utility providers, and will offer development of customized web interfaces leveraging Whitecap's own proprietary interface to the Ontario Ministry of Energy's centralized Meter Data Repository. Robb Carmichael, Whitecap's President & CEO, commented: "Working with THESL on this project was a great experience. Their expertise in utility consumption management combined with Whitecap's technology know-how allowed us to develop a unique web application that will make the lives of utility consumers that much easier. The opportunity to design and develop a web application centred around the goal of energy conservation was also highly rewarding. The Smart Meter Portal represents an excellent showcase for Whitecap's strengths in technology development and strategic design."
Top of page
