Australian Energy company Origin Energy has partnered with global energy technology firm Landis+Gyr to modernize its gas network with smart digital technology. The smart gas rollout focus on modernizing Origin’s customer and operational services–without replacing existing infrastructure.

The move could result in Australia’s gas customers soon seeing fewer estimated bills, fewer manual meter readings, and a more modern energy service experience.

The project marks one of the first large-scale efforts in Australia to fully digitize gas network operations across an entire customer base, covering households and businesses across Origin’s gas network.

Over the next 18 months, Landis+Gyr will deploy smart IoT modules, communications technology, and a data management platform across Origin’s existing meters to enable remote readings and near real-time insights.

“This upgrade supports Origin’s focus on improving the customer experience, while leveraging technology to make better use of existing infrastructure to help modernize Australia’s gas networks,’’ Origin General Manager LPG Amber Fennell said.

There will be no disruption to customers’ LPG supply during the upgrade, he added.

The project will eliminate manual tasks. “Improving data accuracy and billing timeliness by removing manual reads enables us to enhance the customer experience,” Fennell said.

Landis+Gyr’s smart gas technology is designed to provide utilities and energy service providers with a fast pathways to digitalization, according to Senior Vice President, APAC, David Maclean. This will enable “improved customer service outcomes, safer installation practices and greater operational efficiencies,” and it “marks a significant step forward in bringing intelligent, more flexible energy infrastructure to Australia,’’ Maclean said.

The transformation paves the way for future IoT technologies. “By enhancing existing meters with Landis+Gyr’s Smart Gas solution, Origin Energy can adopt future IoT technologies without replacing their existing assets, improving the customer experience today while building a strong foundation for long-term innovation.”

If the rollout is successful, it could support future deployment of the technology across approximately two million Landis+Gyr gas meters already installed across Australia. It would enable remote meter readings and near real-time data insights at a broader scale, avoiding large-scale network replacement.

Origin Energy is an Australia-based energy retailer with more than 4.8 million customer accounts, and approximately 8,100 MW of power generation capacity. The company is also a large natural gas producer.

Landis+Gyr is a global energy technology firm offering intelligent systems that connect devices, data, and decisions across the grid.