SPOKANE, WA, Oct. 14, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Itron Inc. announced details for a contract worth nearly $15 million with Xcel Energy for an additional 200,000-plus automatic meter reading (AMR) endpoints to be installed in the Boulder, Colo. area.
Included in this deployment Xcel Energy will purchase more than 50,000 of Itron's solid-state electricity meters for the first time in its Colorado service territory.
Once the AMR endpoints are installed, Xcel Energy will have automated data collection from more than 2 million electric and natural gas meters in its Colorado service territory using Itron technology, making it one of the largest AMR installations in the world.
"After nearly 10 years of success with Itron's automatic meter reading technology, the business environment is ready for us to expand the solution to incorporate the communities served by our Boulder service center," said Charles Hutton, Xcel Energy's vice president of customer care. "By improving our efficiency, we improve our customer satisfaction with more accurate billing and we reduce our overall costs."
A long-time Itron customer, Xcel Energy began installing Itron AMR technology on a large scale in its Colorado service territory, then known as Public Service Company of Colorado, more than 10 years ago. In addition to the new contract, Xcel Energy recently teamed up with Itron and other leading technology providers, including IBM and Indus, in a new project called the "Utility Innovations" initiative, an ambitious project designed to prove the value of new technologies in the areas of asset management, workflow management and customer service.
The "Utility Innovations" initiative is anchored by new generation Itron fixed network technology in the Denver area collecting advanced metering data from some 6,000 residential and small commercial customers. The Itron Fixed Network feeds that data into a single meter data repository to support a wide range of applications at Xcel Energy. These applications include distribution system monitoring and operations; outage management, response and restoration; asset management and planning; service delivery management; and revenue assurance.
LeRoy Nosbaum, Itron's chairman and CEO, said Xcel Energy is deploying one of the largest combination electric and gas AMR systems in the world and has continually looked for innovative ways to improve efficiency and delivery to its customers. In addition, Itron signed a contract with Xcel Energy this summer for the purchase of 6,000 advanced solid state meters equipped with SmartSynch's SmartMeter® technology to be installed at hard-to-access and security-sensitive commercial customer locations throughout the Denver area.
"Xcel Energy is both a highly valued customer and a highly valued partner," said Nosbaum. "We are indeed fortunate to work with such a forward-thinking utility whose vision has so much in common with our own."
About Itron
Itron (www.itron.com) is a leading technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and water industries. More than 3,000 utilities worldwide rely on Itron technology to provide the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron creates value for its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for electricity metering; meter data collection; energy information management; demand response; load forecasting, analysis and consulting services; distribution system design and optimization; web-based workforce automation; and enterprise and residential energy management.
About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy is the fourth-largest combination electricity and natural gas energy company in the United States. Xcel offers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.3 million electricity customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers. The utility has regulated operations in 11 Western and Midwestern states, and revenue of $7.9 billion annually; own over 260,000 conductor miles of electricity transmission and distribution lines, and more than 32,000 miles of natural gas pipelines; and operate power plants that generate about 15,433 megawatts of electric power.
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