Office opening in Chile

Kamstrup opens new subsidiary in Chile

After some years with successful projects in Chile, the Danish Smart Metering provider, Kamstrup, has decided to open a branch office in the country in order to develop new projects and provide an even closer service to regional customers.

Division Director, Jan Hannibal, explains: “Chile struggles with some of the same problems that we solve in other parts of the world.

Rapid economic growth creates higher consumer awareness and intensifies the need for efficient demand side management. We consider it our mission to facilitate the transition to a Smart Grid in Chile, which we are already doing with quite some success."

Several projects for TECNET, Group CGE’s branch company for engineering and metering, are showing convincing results.

Two way-communicating meters with 100 % meter reading performance enable TECNET to carry out meter readings without disturbing the residents, and even to remotely disconnect and reconnect the electricity supply, thus eliminating the possible conflict situations for their personnel. The metering system even detects unauthorized manipulation attempts and energy thefts.

Economic growth inevitably entails a higher energy demand and thus increased electricity prices. Intelligent metering solutions can help flattening the demand curve and using energy in non-peak periods by means of residential tariffing and load profiling.

“With more than 3 million smart meters sold in Europe and other regions this is one of our core competences,” says Mr. Hannibal, who sees a great potential for Kamstrup in Chile. “One of the most obvious benefits that the Chilean consumers will experience from our proven metering technology is trustworthy billing, which is high on the wish list.”

As a country to invest in, Chile stands out with respect to a favourable business climate, a good infrastructure and zero corruption, which is very important according to Mr. Hannibal: “We have a clear CSR profile and have oined the UN Global Compact. We are very careful when we select our local business partners and where to settle down", he says.

Naturally the Chilean office will be a portal for Kamstrup to the rest of South America. The branch office will be official in the spring 2013.