OREANDA-NEWS.  Setting a national example of how communities can tackle 21st century utility challenges, the city of Holly Springs, Miss. has contracted GE to provide its subscription-based Solutions as a Service (SaaS) to modernize its utility grid. The SaaS package provides a complete, multi-utility solution for municipalities looking to modernize their utility infrastructure.

GE’s SaaS offering will provide the city of Holly Springs with advanced outage detection capabilities on its monitored meters, immediately notifying utility managers when an outage or power loss has been detected. In addition, its asset monitoring capabilities enable the city to register and monitor all meters connected to its utility network, logging and classifying any issues that may occur. This information is then analyzed and reported, providing insight into the operational state of the city’s utility assets and an in-depth view of the city’s energy usage.

Under the terms of the agreement, GE will provide Holly Springs with a pre-integrated package of services ranging from electric, water and gas meter services for the city’s advanced metering infrastructure to prepaid electric billing on a consumer web portal. The package also includes services such as outage detection, asset monitoring and support for the city’s grid—to the city of Holly Springs for 10 years.

"The improved reliability and efficiency that come along with a modernized grid are prime reasons why cities look to upgrade their utility infrastructure," said Todd Jackson, product line leader—software solutions, GE's Digital Energy business. "By equipping Holly Springs with our SaaS grid modernization technology, we have helped the city to establish an advanced utility network capable of meeting 21st century energy challenges."

GE will supply the city of Holly Springs with a variety of advanced electric meter services and equipment including its proven and reliable I210+c single phase and KV2c polyphase meters. The remote disconnect functionality of these electric meters allows for greater efficiency for the city’s utility grid. In addition, GE will provide meter-monitoring services, equipping the city with accurate and up-to-date data on its utility network. This information also will be accessible to customers through GE’s Grid IQTM Solution Landing Portal, which displays historical metering and billing data and provides easily accessible residential customer connect/disconnect services.

“Together, Utility General Manager Don Hollingsworth and I have worked to seek out an all-encompassing grid-modernization solution to help unify and modernize our city’s electric, water and gas utility grids,” said Kelvin Buck, mayor of Holly Springs. ”Our search led us to GE’s Service as a Solution grid modernization package, which will provide our city with an advanced range of grid services and solutions, and will establish Holly Springs as a technological leader among U.S. utilities.”

GE’s Solutions as a Service package enables utilities to implement a prepaid billing system, easing the billing and payment process for customers and provides a Web-based solution that allows individuals to view and take control of their energy usage. This prepaid electric billing service provides payment options to consumers such as paying with cash, checks or credit/debit cards. It enables customers to pay their bills remotely using methods such as interactive voice response, text, email and the online payment portal set up for the city.

Introduced last year, GE’s SaaS—one of the company’s innovative Industrial Internet technologies—provides small- and mid-market utilities with the grid modernization technology they need without having to incur the overhead expenses associated with developing their own smart grid networks. As a cloud-based, fee-for-service grid management system, GE’s SaaS empowers utilities of all sizes to create modernized, interconnected grids to meet the needs of today’s ever-evolving businesses. GE’s Industrial Internet solutions establish a constant flow of communication between a business operation and its machines, enabling big data to be converted into real-time analytical insight, improving grid reliability and efficiency. Currently, GE’s SaaS is being utilized by both Electric Cities of Georgia (ECG)/City of Norcross, GA and the City of Leesburg, FL.