Great interest in supplying meters to Vattenfall

Great interest in supplying meters to Vattenfall Almost 50 suppliers from several different countries have registered their interest in taking part in Vattenfall's international procurement of 300 000 remote electricity meters. At the conclusion of the first phase of Vattenfall's procurement of remote electricity meters, more than 40 suppliers had registered their interest. The procurement is part of an extensive programme designed to make life simpler for electricity customers. One element of this programme is to start charging customers for the electricity they actually use, i.e. to do away with preliminary debiting. "The procurement has attracted more interest than we dared hope. Examining the material submitted by the suppliers will be an exciting but gigantic task that we will have to carry out under great pressure of time," says Christer Johansson, who is managing the procurement process for Vattenfall. Phase two of the procurement process - evaluating which of the suppliers best meets Vattenfall's supply requirements - is now beginning and is expected to take a few weeks. Those suppliers that satisfy the requirements will then be invited to tender, after which the final selection will be made. The new meters will be installed in the premises of Vattenfall customers that consume more than 8 000 kWh per year, for example in electrically- heated detached houses or in farm buildings. Vattenfall's target is to install 50 000 of the total of 300 000 meters already this year. The preliminary debiting and advance payment systems that are used today will be phased out and replaced by electricity bills based on actual consumption. This is part of Vattenfall's ambitious programme to simplify things for its customers. Bills that are based on meter readings instead of on assumed consumption reduce the risk of customers receiving unexpectedly high electricity bills in connection with annual settlement. Remote metering will remove the need for the annual settlement of accounts. Each bill will only charge the customer concerned for the electricity that has actually been consumed. The bills will be based on values that Vattenfall will be able to read remotely and enter into the debiting system once the new meters have been installed. For background data, see also: http://www.vattenfall.se/om_vattenfall/press/pressmeddelanden/2002/10/pr essmeddelande_2002_10_23b.asp From Vattenfall's Press Office, telephone: +46 8 739 50 10. For more information, please contact: Karl-Erik Olsson, Press Director, Vattenfall, telephone 08-739 75 83, mobile 070-538 81 38. Christer Johansson, Procurement Manager, telephone 0520-88270, mobile 070-662 78 88. Vattenfall's vision is to be a leading European energy company. Vattenfall's main products are electricity and heat. Today, Vattenfall generates power and supplies energy to several million customers in the Nordic region and northern Europe. The largest electricity customers are industrial plants and energy companies. For more information, see www.vattenfall.com . Under NEWS & COMMENTS you will find media service, including Press Releases and Key Events. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/26/20030226BIT00360/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/26/20030226BIT00360/wkr0002.pdf