Arc Finalist in the New Zealand Energy Sector Excellence Awards 

It helped hundreds of Cantabrians with hot water in the days after the devastating February earthquake and now that innovative technology has been recognised by the industry. Arc innovations has been announced as one of the four finalists in the Innovation in Electricity Award of this year's prestigious Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards.

Based in Christchurch, Arc has been at the forefront of smart metering in New Zealand and has installed nearly 130,000 smart meters in homes throughout the country.

This is one of the largest smart metering networks in Australasia. Smart metering allows customers to track and manage their energy spend using a network of communication systems and data management programmes.

The 2011 Deloitte Energy Excellence awards recognise excellence and achievement across the electricity, oil, gas and petroleum industries.

"I'm absolutely delighted that we have been chosen for this award," says Simon Clarke, Chief Executive of Arc innovations.

"Being able to control energy use in near real time is revolutionising the electricity market. It will drive sustainable choices among consumers, give direction to appliance manufacturers and dictate how we look at energy use in the future."

Most recently the Arc Smart Meter technology was used after Christchurch's February earthquake to switch on hot water cylinders in several hundred homes around the city.

Clarke says being named a finalist in a competitive field reflects the high calibre and standard of the Arc technology. "We are proud that this is something that has been designed and developed in Christchurch. "Since 2003 when we headed into to our research and development labs to create New Zealand's first generation of smart meters to today's sophisticated end to end solutions incorporating state of the art communications technology and data management systems, Arc has sought to be a world leader."

The winner of the Innovation in Energy Electricity Award will be announced at the Excellence Awards dinner on 17 August in Auckland.

For more information contact Simon Clarke, Chief Executive, Arc Innovations,

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