AMR deployment will automate 260,000 water meters in Philadelphia suburbs
SPOKANE, Wash., September 18, 2001 — Itron Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement with Philadelphia Suburban Water Company (PSW) to provide the investor-owned water utility with technology to automate data collection from 260,000 of its water meters in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
PSW officials cited fewer estimated bills, lower operating expenses, and improved customer satisfaction as the primary drivers of their decision to deploy automation technology on a larger scale.
When completed, the project will be the largest automatic meter reading (AMR) system deployed by an investor-owned water utility in the country and the third largest water meter automation project in the U.S. PSW, a subsidiary of Philadelphia Suburban Corporation, serves a total of 1.2 million residents in portions of five counties surrounding the City of Philadelphia.
Once the system is deployed, PSW meter readers will use vehicles equipped with on- board Itron computers and radio frequency (RF) transceivers to collect meter data simply by driving past the metered property, eliminating the need for meter readers to access customer properties. PSW chose Itron, in part, for its proven track record of successful AMR projects.
"Itron has a reputation for stability, innovation, and getting the job done," said Nicholas DeBenedictis, Chairman of Philadelphia Suburban Water Company. "We've had the opportunity to see first hand the success of their AMR system installed on water meters in the City of Philadelphia. We feel very good about our new partnership with Itron.." "Itron's AMR system will be greatly beneficial to us and our customers," said PSW President Morrison Coulter. "Eliminating the need to access customers' homes and properties will lead to a less obtrusive meter reading process for our customers."
The AMR system will also enable PSW to transition from quarterly to bi-monthly billing. "A shorter billing cycle means our customers will be able to keep better track of their water usage and pay a smaller amount on each bill, both of which will be a tremendous help in budgeting and discovering any water leaks on a more timely basis," said Coulter.
According to John Hengesh, Vice President and General manager of Itron.s Water and Public Power business unit, PSW is making a commitment to its customers, its continued financial success, and its present and future technological needs by embracing AMR technology.
"In today.s competitive business environment, utilities must take proactive steps toward establishing excellent customer service, increasing operational efficiency, and reducing costs," said Hengesh. "Itron is extremely pleased and excited to help Philadelphia Subur- ban Water Company reach these goals. The rewards will be significant for both the utility and its customers."
Itron Inc. is a technology provider and source of knowledge to the energy and water industry for collecting, analyzing, and applying critical data about electric, gas, and water usage. Itron technology touches more than $200 billion in energy and water trans- actions annually.
Today, Itron systems are installed at approximately 2,000 utilities in over 45 countries around the world and are being used to collect data from 275 million electric, gas, and water meters. Of those, more than 700 customers use Itron.s AMR technology to automatically collect information from almost 19 million of those meters.
Itron technology is also in use at a number of the newly created wholesale energy markets in the U.S. and Canada to provide critical billing and settlement systems for the power flowing into and out of those deregulating markets.
Philadelphia Suburban Water Company provides drinking water to approximately 1.2 million people throughout Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Bucks and Berks counties in southeastern Pennsylvania. Its parent company, PSC, is one of the nation's largest investor-owned utilities, providing water and wastewater services to approximately 2 million residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Maine and North Carolina.
PSC completed 18 water system acquisitions and growth ventures in the year 2000 and ended the year with more than $275 million in revenues, a record for the company. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PSC.
