Fort Collins Utilities and Elster to Deliver Multi-Utility Smart Grid AMI Deployment

FORT COLLINS, Colo. and RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Fort Collins Utilities and Elster (NYSE: ELT) today announced a new Smart Grid deployment that will provide energy-saving benefits to the residents and businesses of Fort Collins, CO.

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The Elster EnergyAxis® Smart Grid solution will power an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system for Fort Collins Utilities' electric and water customers, delivering system and operational improvements and providing consumers with more flexibility in electric and water usage.

As part of the Advanced Meter Fort Collins project, Fort Collins Utilities will deploy approximately 100,000 advanced electric and water meter endpoints by the end of the second quarter of 2013.

The Elster EnergyAxis solution, running on the Tropos Network communications system, will enable Fort Collins Utilities to analyze meter data to maintain high system reliability, make utility operations more cost effective, provide more information to customers and better prepare the utility and the community for emerging technologies.

"The goal of the Advanced Meter Fort Collins project is to develop a foundation that supports, informs and empowers our community to make informed decisions about how they manage water and electricity consumption," said Steve Catanach, Light and Power Manager at City of Fort Collins Utilities.

"We look forward to working with Elster as we build out our multi-utility AMI project. The flexible architecture of the Elster EnergyAxis solution, combined with the power of the Tropos network, will enable Fort Collins Utilities to deliver Smart Grid benefits across our service territory," Catanach added.

The Fort Collins Smart Grid deployment will also improve customer service by enabling two-way digital communication between the advanced meters and system managers, and reduce operational costs and related truck rolls.

Tropos Networks will provide the wireless backhaul system required to transmit electricity and water usage data from the Elster Smart Meter to Fort Collins Utilities. The Tropos communications system is a key component in the two-way AMI capabilities of the Fort Collins advanced meter deployment. Elster will work with the city and Enspiria, the city's consultant, on the Advanced Meter Fort Collins project.

"Elster's EnergyAxis Smart Grid solution will provide immediate system and operational advantages to Fort Collins Utilities," said Mark Munday, president and CEO of Elster Solutions. "Elster's multi-technology approach ensures that our EnergyAxis Smart Grid solution can be quickly deployed into Smart Grid projects of all sizes, regardless of the existing infrastructure or technical requirements."

The Advanced Meter Fort Collins project is partially funded by a United States Department of Energy Smart Grid Investment Grant.

Elster's EnergyAxis, with more than 90 active deployments and five million endpoints across the globe, enables utilities to:

• Realize operational efficiencies;
• Conserve environmental and economic resources by reducing the losses in electricity, gas and water infrastructures;
• Improve outage response and repair time;
• Improve customer service and consumer choice;
• Implement demand response programs that can conserve resources and reduce costs, especially during periods of peak demand;
• Provide real-time information to end consumers to allow them to better manage their energy consumption; and
• Detect and reduce non-technical grid losses.

About City of Fort Collins Utilities

Fort Collins is home to Colorado State University and an outstanding public school system. Nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains, with an average of 300 days of sunshine every year, Fort Collins offers exciting recreational opportunities, unique cultural offerings, and is a regional center for employment and shopping. Fort Collins offers the convenience of a small town with all the amenities of a larger city.  There is always something happening in this community.  From music concerts and plays, to food and beer tasting extravaganzas, Fort Collins has it all.

The City of Fort Collins Utilities has been recognized for being an award winning utility in Environmental Excellence, Leadership and Achievements; Performance and Innovation, Vision, Leadership, Outstanding Community Support for Renewable Energy; and Reliable Electric Operations. The City of Fort Collins has also been ranked 6th out of the top 100 best places to live by Money Magazine.  We continue to seek new opportunities to reduce our environmental impacts; adopt new technologies for increasing efficiency; explore ways to better engage our staff and community in action for sustainability.  We are passionate about creating a vibrant, world-class community, and providing exceptional service for an exceptional community.

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