Italgas, part of Snam Rete Gas the leading natural gas distributor in Italy with about 6 million customers, has chosen Ericsson to provide an innovative smart meter solution for its industrial users. This will enable Italgas to transform both technology and processes in automated meter measurement and control. This solution is the first advanced meter management and reading system for the gas market in Italy.

Ericsson’s solution makes it possible to gather data from gas meters and transfer it to Italgas’ internal IT environment. It also enables event collection, command handling, network configuration and real-time monitoring of multivendor gas smart meters from remotely.

Italgas’ decision to invest significant resources in these innovative processes is a response to the recent reform of the gas distribution sector in Italy, which rewards companies that combine better integration of resources, operational efficiency and technological innovation. Italgas is transforming many operative activities from manual to automatic and making them remotely manageable generating benefits in terms of increasing the service quality and reducing costs.

Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Ericsson Region Mediterranean, says: “This agreement is an important milestone on the journey to Ericsson’s vision of the Networked Society. ICT is already transforming many industries such as the utility sector – enabling smart grids to deliver real-time information, giving companies greater control over their energy usage and saving money on their energy bills”.

The introduction of intelligent metering systems is being promoted in the European Union through various legislative rulings. As Italy’s Regulatory Authority for Electricity and Gas (AEEG) established that 60 percent of residential gas meters and 100 percent of industrial gas meters must be telecontrolled by the end of 2018, Italgas has already partnered with Ericsson to build and integrate the advanced meter management and reading system and the meter data management systems with existing systems for 150,000 large and industrial customers.