Telia's Narrow Band IoT to Connect One Million E.ON Customers

One million E.ON customers will soon be able to monitor how much electricity they consume each day – and how much they produce if they have solar panels installed. Telia’s NB-IoT technology has been selected to connect the next generation of smart meters.

As part of its focus on modernizing the electrical grid to be more stable and adaptable to sustainable energy sources, EON has selected Telia IoT to connect smart meters in one million homes in Sweden. This will be done using Telia’s Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technology which was launched in 2017.

NB-IoT stems from 4G and is one step towards 5G. The technology is characterized by long range and deep underground penetration, making it ideal for connecting electricity meters located deep inside buildings and across remote geographic locations. It also supports lower connectivity and installment costs, enabling IoT deployments of this scale.

“There will be improvements in a number of areas. The meters are prepared to handle micro-production: households that both consume and feed electricity to the grid from solar panels. In addition, the customers will be able to monitor both the production and consumption of electricity in close to real-time. To enable this, in addition to a new electricity meter, a modern communication solution is required. We have therefore chosen Telia to connect our customers with mobile technology and IoT,” says Robert Tretinjak, Program Manager at E.ON Energy Distribution.

Earlier this spring, Telia signed an agreement with ONE Nordic and Ellevio to connect close to one million of ONE Nordic's and Ellevio's customers in a corresponding manner.

“NB-IoT opens up many new applications and the powerful indoor coverage is designed to connect underground energy meters or ones placed deep inside buildings. We are really happy to be able to support our customers with modern communication solutions and now E.ON in the roll-out of the next generation of electricity meters,” says Björn Hansen, Head of IoT, Division X, Telia Company.