Tokyo Electric Power Company recently announced it will hold bids for about 17 million smart meters by 2019, according to Reuters via the Nikkei newspaper.
As part of a corporate restructuring – and essential nationalization – in the wake of the nuclear crisis that began last March after the earthquake and tsunami, the Japanese government is oredering the utility to invite bids from both Japanese and foreign firms for the meters.
The metering is part of a plan to trim about 103 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in costs over the next 10 years.
