Iskraemeco signed the cooperation agreement on intelligent electricity measurement options via GSM network with the Finnish company TeliaSonera Finland.

Kranj, 7. 10. 2004: Iskraemeco signed the cooperation agreement on intelligent electricity measurement options via GSM network with the Finnish company TeliaSonera Finland on October 7. The agreement anticipates a long-term cooperation in the development and supply of remote measurement systems. This agreement is a new important milestone for Iskraemeco in offering the whole system solutions and an impressive example of exporting Slovene high-tech to one of the most developed markets.

On Thursday, October 7, 2004, Slavko Vidic, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Iskraemeco signed the cooperation agreement on intelligent electricity measurement options via GSM network with the Finnish company TeliaSonera Finland. So far Iskraemeco’s typical customers comprised electrical power distribution companies, whereas with this agreement our customers became a GSM-operator upgrading its standard activities with intelligent telemetry service for the first time. TeliaSonera intends to market service activities for their client first, the Finnish electrical distribution company Vattenfall, and later on also for other electricity distribution companies on the area covered with their GSM network. The number of Vattenfall’s customers in Finland is 360,000 and the company holds approx. a 12 percent market share. Vattenfall and TeliaSonera Finland have concluded a comprehensive long-term cooperation agreement. According to the service agreement, TeliaSonera will install new intelligent electricity meters at Vattenfall's Finnish network customers and will be responsible for the reading service based on a GSM modem developed by Iskraemeco. In this way, Vattenfall will ensure its customers to pay for their actual electricity consumption during each time interval, replacing preliminary invoicing.

Power Egineering Magazine (http://pepei.pennnet.com/articles) has published the article titled “Vattenfall and TeliaSonera jointly revolutionize electricity metering in Finland” where the advantages and benefits of the new GSM operators services for electricity distribution and consumers are presented. The TeliaSonera system provides Vattenfall in Finland more accurate information on the performance of the electricity network such as accurate data on transmission losses. This information enables the work of developing and maintaining the electricity network to be more focused than in the past, and the efficiency of the network operations to be improved. The new metering system will substantially improve the performance of the Scandinavian electricity market. Accurate information provides better conditions for competition in electricity sales, since exact consumption information can be used instead of estimates.

Iskraemeco has been investing in the development of the systems for remote meter reading for a long time. Besides already operating systems for industrial consumers, a new generation of the system for automatic meter reading for household consumers has been developed recently. Scandinavian countries are leading in the world at introducing such systems. Iskraemeco signed a contract with Vattenfall for remote energy metering with more than 150.000 installations in Sweden in July. At the beginning of this year, Iskraemeco sold its first major system to Sydkraft, the other Swedish energy company.