TALLASSEE, AL, and HARRINGTON PARK, NJ, Feb. 17, 2005 -- Neptune Technology Group Inc. and United Water announced that a contract is in place to provide technology to United Water to automate data collection from the 255,000 water meters in the company's New Jersey and New York service areas.
United Water has chosen the Neptune ARB® Utility Management System™, which includes Neptune water meters with ProRead® absolute encoder registers, R900TM Radio Frequency Meter Interface Units (RF MIUs), and Neptune's MRX920 mobile data collectors.
"Our goal is to improve meter reading efficiency as well as enhance service to our customers," said Robert J. Iacullo, president of United Water New Jersey and United Water New York. "We believe the primary benefit of this new meter reading system for our customers is the convenience of having their meter read remotely and timeliness of accurate bills."
Neptune's ARB Utility Management Systems, including the absolute encoders and RF MIUs, provide a solid foundation for guaranteed meter reading system accuracy and migratability. Installations are scheduled to begin soon and continue through December 2008.
This is the largest water utility automatic meter reading (AMR) project awarded in North America since Neptune was chosen for a similar project by the Greater Cincinnati Water Works. "The decision by United Water is a testament to their commitment to stay in the forefront of customer service and meter reading technology," said Neptune president Chuck DiLaura. "United Water was the first company in the world to deploy a commercial telephone meter reading system nearly 20 years ago for all their customers in Bergen and Hudson counties in New Jersey and Rockland County in New York."
According to DiLaura, United Water chose Neptune's ARB system at the time and Neptune has made every effort to ensure their systems have both backward and forward compatibility, making it possible for United Water to migrate from commercial telephone AMR to the new ARB Utility Management Mobile RF System using many of the same meters originally installed.
"After a competitive bid process and considerable review of all the AMR technologies available, we chose the Neptune system," said Iacullo. "We need to provide our customers with the best 'value for money' services in the technology investments we make. The Neptune solution provided the best fit because it enhances our customer service capabilities while offering the greatest value over the life of the system."
"We are thrilled with United Water's decision to continue to work with Neptune to address its AMR system needs," said DiLaura. "This is a very strong endorsement to the people of Neptune that we are truly considered to be United Water's 'most valued partner.' It confirms that the investment we've made in customer support and in AMR technologies that deliver the lowest cost of ownership is valued in the water utility market".
United Water (www.unitedwater.com), based in Harrington Park, N.J., provides water and wastewater services to seven million people in the United States. In addition to owning and operating regulated utilities, United Water operates municipal systems through public-private partnerships and contract agreements. Four of the nation's largest water and wastewater contracts are operated by United Water.
Tallahassee, Ala.-based Neptune Technology Group Inc. (www.neptunetg.com), a pioneer in the development of automatic meter reading (AMR) technology nearly 40 years ago, is a leading provider of data collection systems, reading more than 38 million meters per month. Since 1892, Neptune has continually focused on the evolving needs of utilities -- revenue optimization, operational efficiencies, and improved customer service. Neptune continues to broaden its focus beyond automatic meter reading and metering to include service orders and meter asset management and to extend this capability to electric and gas utilities as it further integrates with DB Microware and its alliance partners. Neptune provides utility automation software touching over 50 million connected customers throughout North America.
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