The utilities said that Silver Spring would provide infrastructure, devices, software and services in support of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) program.

Deployment will begin immediately and is expected to be complete in 2013.

It is intended to network approximately 1.2 million homes and businesses throughout Victoria.

Victoria's smart grid plan, announced in April, will give 2.5 million Victorians the ability to monitor their own energy use and allow utilities to read, connect or disconnect meters remotely and respond faster to power outages.

Utilities United Energy Distribution (UED) and Jemena have previously indicated they would begin rolling out smart meters from September.

These rollouts are also based on Silver Spring technology.

CitiPower and Powercor said they will also seek to facilitate other applications of the technology apart from those mandated by the Victorian Government.