Westar Extends AMI Contract with Landis+Gyr

Deal increases deployment of advanced meters and includes managed network services

News provided by

Feb 04, 2016, 10:00 ET

ATLANTA, Feb. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Landis+Gyr announced a recent contract extension with Westar Energy, the largest electric utility provider in Kansas, for a full deployment of the utility's advanced metering infrastructure and continued management of its AMI network.

The original contract with Westar covered deployment of Landis+Gyr's Gridstream^® AMI solution within the Wichita, KS service area. The extension includes the remainder of Westar's electric meters and network infrastructure for all other areas of Westar's territory. Landis+Gyr will continue to provide network management and data hosting services as part of the agreement.

"The initial deployment and success of the service agreement with Landis+Gyr made us confident to move ahead," said Greg Greenwood, Senior Vice President, Strategy at Westar Energy. "We've been seeing value from day one and plan to expand our use of the network and data for a variety of grid management applications."

The technology deployment supports Westar's existing pre-payment and variable pricing programs, delivery of energy usage information to customers through the internet, and support of outage management and power quality operations. Remote meter connection capabilities also reduce miles driven by utility personnel, especially for servicing high-transient populations in university communities.

"Landis+Gyr is excited to partner with Westar Energy on expansion of their project. Our services group is able to function as an extension of the utility's smart grid team, providing increasingly valuable insights and operating support in a timely manner as the deployment goes forward," said Prasanna Venkatesan, Executive Vice President, Americas at Landis+Gyr.

Landis+Gyr, a global leader in energy and resource management technologies, has successfully implemented some of the largest advanced metering and grid automation deployments in North America and around the world. The Gridstream AMI solution utilizes a multi-purpose network to communicate with advanced meters, sensors, switches and other grid devices, providing automation and control of grid operations.

About Westar Energy
Westar Energy, Inc. (NYSE: WR) is Kansas' largest electric utility. For more than a century, we have provided Kansans the safe, reliable electricity needed to power their businesses and homes. Every day our team of professionals takes on projects to generate and deliver electricity, protect the environment and provide excellent service to our nearly 700,000 customers. Westar has 7,200 MW of electric generation capacity fueled by coal, uranium, natural gas, wind and landfill gas. We are also a leader in electric transmission in Kansas. For more information about Westar Energy, visit www.WestarEnergy.com.

About Landis+Gyr
Landis+Gyr is the leading global provider of integrated energy management products tailored to energy company needs and unique in its ability to deliver true end-to-end advanced metering solutions. Today, the Company offers the broadest portfolio of products and services in the electricity metering industry, and is paving the way for the next generation of smart grid. With annualized sales of more than US$1.5 billion, Landis+Gyr, an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502) and 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, operates in 30 countries across five continents, and employs 5,500 people with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better. More information is available at landisgyr.com.

SOURCE Landis+Gyr