COPASA to Install 63,000 Additional Elster Water Meters

ESSEN, Germany, and SAO PAULO, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elster (NYSE: ELT) today announced that Companhia de Saneamento de Minas Gerais (COPASA), Brazil's second largest water utility, is expanding its existing deployment with Elster Medicao de Agua S/A and installing 63,000 new Elster water meters.

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An Elster customer since its inception in 1963, COPASA conducted a highly competitive analysis and evaluation and selected Elster's water meters based on quality, durability and accuracy.

The new COPASA project award follows recent Elster water meter deployment announcements with EMBASA and SABESP in Brazil, as well as an electricity meter award with Light SA in Brazil, underscoring the company's continued momentum in the region. Earlier this year, Elster announced the formation of a business unit in Sao Paulo to expand Elster's presence in providing electricity, gas and water solutions across Latin America. At COPASA, Elster's water meters will provide more accurate usage measurement and increased revenue generation.

"COPASA has a very rigorous selection process and Elster was the only company which met our testing committee's criteria for quality, durability and accuracy for each meter submitted," said Arnaldo Reis Carvalho Filho, water meter manager at COPASA. "For almost 50 years COPASA has worked with Elster to manage our water distribution measurement and we are pleased to continue using Elster's quality solutions to deliver the best service to our customers," he added.

The new Elster meter deployment will help COPASA, which has more than 3.5 million meters installed, expand its current service area. COPASA will deploy a combination of glass and plastic cover S120 water meters. The deployment is scheduled to begin in July 2011 and be completed by the end of the year.

With local offices and support teams in Brazil, Elster will work with COPASA to ensure a smooth deployment and meet the utility's business and customer needs.

"We are proud to continue expanding our long-standing relationship with COPASA. It is a true testament to Elster's quality metering solutions that we have maintained our competitive edge throughout the years," said Jerry Lauzze, executive vice president of Elster's global water business. "Recent awards in Brazil highlight Elster's relationship with Latin American water utilities, which is a strong emerging market in the global effort to improve water management and conservation," he added.

About Elster

Elster (NYSE: ELT) is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services – key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.  

Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.

For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.

SOURCE Elster