Proposed smart electricity and gas meter rollout means job opportunities for LIT Tipperary Smart Energy graduates

Irish graduates with energy management and IT skills are to benefit from the planned upgrade of electricity and gas meters to a new digital standard. This roll out will affect all homes in the republic of Ireland and will take place between 2014 and 2018.

"Ireland must address how to reduce its energy demand while using renewable sources in an efficient and effective manner. A national roll-out of Smart Meters will therefore lead to lower customer bills, greater customer information and choice, lower CO2 emissions and environmental benefits for Ireland. The graduates from LIT-Tipperary's Smart Energy degree programme will be able to take part in this exciting development and assist companies in managing their energy in to the foreseeable future," stated Dr. Liam Noonan, Programme leader for the LIT-Tipperary BSc (Hons) in Computing (Smart Sustainable Energy) programme: http://www.lit.ie/Courses/LC420

The CER is proposing to roll-out smart meters nationally in a manner which:

• Includes an in-home display screen to give consumers more real-time information on both the cost and usage of electricity and gas.
• Provides customers with Smart bills, containing detailed consumption and cost information.
• Involves suppliers offering Time-of-Use Pricing for all electricity consumers, facilitating a shift in electricity consumption to cheaper times of the day and giving more choice to customers.
• Provides prepayment services as standard with smart metering, i.e. energy consumers will be able to automatically switch between prepay and bill pay options

For further information on the Smart Sustainable Energy programme, contact Dr. Liam Noonan at 0504 28254 or email: liam.noonan@lit.ie