Axpo subsidiary CKW completes conversion to smart meters

30.04.2024 - Axpo subsidiary CKW has completed the comprehensive conversion to intelligent electricity meters in its supply area – the first major energy supplier to do so. The last of 185,000 will be installed in the coming days. The state-of-the-art electricity meters open up new opportunities for customers and for CKW. Based on its wide experience, the company now supports over 40 energy suppliers in the field of smart meters.

CKW is winding up the comprehensive conversion to intelligent electricity meters – around three and a half years earlier than required by the law. The company invested over CHF 30 million in the infrastructure modernisation. Following comprehensive tests, the changeover project began in mid-2020 (press release).

First major energy supplier to complete

"In around four years our employers have switched out practically every meter in our supply area – around 185,000 in total. That is an incredibly good team performance for our customers," says CKW CEO Martin Schwab. The collaboration with external service providers was also seamless. Without the four-month interruption to delivery caused by the pandemic, the Axpo subsidiary would have completed the conversion even quicker. Each fitter exchanged an average of 18 meters per day. CKW professionally disposed of the old meters, which represent a total of over 500 tonnes in scrap metal.

New opportunities for customers

The state-of-the-art electricity meters mean CKW customers can track their electricity consumption in real time on myckw.ch and the CKW Energie Tracker app and identify the power-hungry devices in their own homes. The CKW Energie Tracker app provides a handy overview of the energy that a household consumes. It also breaks this electricity consumption down into various categories, such as heating, cooking, washing and the use of devices in stand-by mode. It also uses push messages to notify the user of unusually sharp spikes in consumption. In combination with the customer portal myckw.ch and the CKW Energie Tracker app, the state-of-the-art electricity meters make saving electricity child’s play.

Lower electricity consumption and data analysis

Another benefit – the new meters themselves need almost four times less electricity for metering than previous models. Consequently, Axpo subsidiary CKW is expecting a drop in electricity consumption of around 4,800 MWh per year, which equates to the average electricity demand of over 1,000 four-person households. State-of-the-art radio technology also means the meters can be read on site. Smart meters also allow the electricity costs to be determined precisely if residents move.

For research and analysis purposes, CKW and Axpo have also been making anonymised smart meter data available as open data since the end of October 2022 (press release). This is actual consumption data from the canton of Lucerne. The data is used by public institutions, universities (including universities of applied sciences) and their students for research work.

Smart meter solutions as a service

CKW hasn’t just been rolling out smart meters in the canton of Lucerne. This extensive experience gave rise to the product "Smart Meter Solutions". CKW now supports over 40 energy suppliers throughout Switzerland in the switch to state-of-the-art electricity meters and to operate and maintain them.

More information on the meter conversion: www.ckw.ch/zaehlerwechsel