The world faded to black on Saturday night thanks to a global effort to turn out lights for Earth Hour 2010.

Energy Market Services figures show Canterbury recorded power savings of about 8% during Earth Hour.

However, detailed electricity consumption monitored by advanced metering business Arc Innovations showed no decrease over a smaller sample of 10,000 homes, between 830 pm and 930 pm on Saturday night. The graph shows electricity consumption recorded in half hourly intervals for the same group of homes using advanced meters, for the day of Earth Hour 2009 and 2010.

"It's great that we can now monitor this consumption with such detail through our advanced meters but Earth Hour shouldn't be the only time people decrease their power consumption," says Arc Innovations' Chief Executive Simon Clarke

Arc Innovations is involved in the development, deployment and management of advanced meters, commonly referred to as smart meters. This Christchurch based company successfully deployed the first large-scale smart metering network in Australasia and has installed more than 130,000 advanced meters in homes and business throughout New Zealand.
 
"In Christchurch we are well on our way to being the first smart city in the Asia Pacific region with more than 120,000 smart meters installed in our homes and businesses."
 
Mr Clarke says advanced meters are a great way to save electricity by reducing our carbon footprint and the electricity bill.
 
"The detailed information collected by an advanced meter can provide you with a very clear picture on how you use electricity on a down to a half hourly basis. You can see how energy use impacts on your power bill, allowing you to better manage and reduce your energy use. It is a cliché...but if you don't measure, you can't manage"
 
Although Earth Hour might be over for this year, Arc Innovation hopes consumers will think constantly about reducing their power consumption and not just at special times.
 
"Earth Hour might be over for this year but you can make every hour Earth Hour through using the benefits provided by advanced meters to take advantage of different rates offered by electricity retailers on different days, weekend rates or any special deals on offer. It's easy to make a real difference," says Mr Clarke

For more information  contact Simon Clarke, Chief Executive, Arc Innovations phone 021 224 5846 or Tim Lynskey, GM Marketing and Business Development phone 021 919 179 or 03 335 5360