More than 120,000 Christchurch homes and businesses have now had old electricity meters replaced with the latest innovative metering technology .

The new meters, known colloquially as advanced or smart meters, have been developed and installed by Arc Innovations, a Christchurch based leader in the development, deployment and management of advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) technology and services.


Arc's Chief Executive Simon Clarke says advanced meters are helping to bring in a new era of electricity services for householders and business owners.

"Our new advanced meters are replacing meters that had been in operation for 40 years or more," he says. "Meters used to be read once every two months by a meter reader on foot and the householder got estimated bills.  There were massive inefficiencies in that process, but now customers are getting billed accurately by their retailer and avoiding the hassle of a visit from a meter reader".

Arc's advanced metering solution uses wireless communication to deliver energy consumption data from a person's house to the electricity retailer. The information is collected in half-hourly slots.  Arc has already provided more than one million monthly meter reads from its advanced meters. 

The Christchurch advanced meter network installation is the first large-scale deployment of its kind in Australasia.

"We are very proud of what we have achieved in Christchurch. Our installation project has been challenging but has been a success and we are very focussed on creating a global advanced metering reference site in Christchurch" says Clarke.

"The service we are providing at the moment is just the start. Arc's vision is to change the game for energy consumers through giving them information and smart metering services. Our meters give electricity retailers and consumers information about how and when the electricity is used. People can learn how to use electricity more efficiently and cost effectively," says Clarke.

Arc's advanced metering solution will also lead to better electricity pricing offers for households. "We have already seen Powershop utilise our advanced meters in their 20% Weekend discount offer. Meridian and Contact have also offered new tariffs based on our meters. The exciting thing is that there is more to come" says Clarke.