Elster's EnergyICT Expands Salt River Project Smart Grid Deployment with MDM Solution

PHOENIX and RALEIGH, N.C., May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elster (NYSE: ELT) and the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP) announced today that the utility, which is the third-largest public power utility in the United States, will deploy Elster's EnergyICT EIServer® meter data management (MDM) solution to manage more than 900,000 planned advanced metering devices in Elster's EnergyAxis® system throughout the utility's service territory.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110126/SF35872LOGO-a )

SRP estimates that the Elster EnergyAxis solution has enabled the Arizona utility to remotely address more than 1.2 million service orders, save more than 401,000 labor hours, avoid more than two million driving miles and conserve 198,000 gallons of fuel.

The EnergyICT MDM deployment empowers SRP with the intelligence required to make more informed energy management and pricing decisions, enhance operational processes and deliver advanced customer services.

EnergyICT's MDM and network management solution will perform detailed smart meter data analysis on information collected from every Elster AMI endpoint, providing additional benefits to SRP's customers, including flexible pricing strategies in the form of time-of-use (TOU).

The MDM deployment will provide SRP with a number of operational benefits, such as work-flow management to integrate processes and data, improved sampling and expanded data options for load research, more accurate forecasting to improve power buy and sell decisions, real-time data processing, asset optimization and demand response. The implementation of the EnergyICT MDM system is currently underway and expected to complete in July 2011.

"Given the immense operational savings and award-winning customer feedback that we have received from Elster's EnergyAxis AMI solution, we trust the Elster brand to deliver the same high quality level and rich features in their MDM solution," said Michael Lowe, SRP's manager of Customer Services-Power.

"MDM is a critical component of the Smart Grid, delivering enhanced services for both the utility and our customers," Lowe added.

Since 2003, SRP has paved the way for Smart Meter technology among U.S. electric utilities, with focused consumer initiatives that have resulted in several J.D. Power and Associates honors for customer satisfaction in business and residential electric service. In October 2009, the Department of Energy awarded a matching grant to SRP under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's SGIG initiative to help further its Smart Grid deployment.

"With its rich legacy of innovation, customer service and industry leadership, we are proud to have SRP represent one of Elster Group's first joint AMI/MDM deployments," said Claude Godin, president of EnergyICT (North America).

"As the very first AMI deployment in the U.S., SRP continues to represent the Smart Grid success blueprint for utilities of all sizes to follow. By combining the EnergyICT MDM solution with its existing large scale AMI deployment, SRP will have unmatched visibility and control of energy usage, helping the utility deliver new services that cut costs and reduce consumption," added Godin.

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 modules 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.

About Energy ICT

EnergyICT® is a market leader in meter data and energy management, designing and offering highly advanced energy information and communication technology solutions and services to utilities, energy suppliers and end customers.

Since its foundation in 1991, EnergyICT has built an impressive product portfolio that caters to international energy sectors with a focus on Smart Grids and energy management.  EnergyICT was acquired by the Elster Group in October 2009 and has offices in Belgium, France, UK, Germany and US.

About Salt River Project

SRP is the third-largest public power utility in the United States, serving about 940,000 electric customers through a variety of resources, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, natural gas, coal and nuclear. For more information about SRP, please visit www.srpnet.com.

Acknowledgement: This press release is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Award Number DE-OE0000209.

Disclaimer: This press release was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government.  Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.  Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.  The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.  

SOURCE Elster