Release Details

WASHINGTON, Sep 21, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced today the start of full field deployment for its OpenWay advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution to Southern California Edison (SCE), an electric service provider to nearly 14 million people in central, coastal and southern California.

By the end of 2012, Itron will have shipped more than 4 million OpenWay residential and small-commercial smart electricity meters.

SCE's senior vice president of Customer Service, Lynda Ziegler, said that SCE selected Itron's technology as a foundation for the utility to help its customers become smarter energy consumers. "We're proud to launch this new generation of meters, providing customers with new options and information to help them better manage their energy use."

These new digital, secure, two-way communicating meters will measure electricity usage up-to-the minute and, when fully implemented, will enable customers to track how much they use, and how much it costs them. As part of its Edison SmartConnect(TM) program, SCE plans to offer customers time-of-use rates, as well as peak-time rebates and critical-peak pricing programs--all of which are immediately supported within the new AMI system. Many of these advanced features and functionality will go into effect in the second half of 2010.

"The launch of Edison SmartConnect is a key step in transforming the electric system to a smart grid," said Ziegler.

Meters from the newly installed population were commissioned to verify full system operation and smart grid support. The devices successfully registered, authenticated and were read interactively using Itron's enhanced security architecture based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). Encryption and key management appliances from Itron's partner, Certicom, successfully secured end-to-end messages from the OpenWay Collection Engine down to end devices on the OpenWay system.

"OpenWay offers SCE a smart metering and communication system with advanced benefits and functionality," said Malcolm Unsworth, Itron president and chief executive officer. "We are delighted that our technology can be foundational to a program like Edison SmartConnect, which is considered among the most advanced in the nation for its thought leadership and management. SCE is to be commended."

About Itron:

Itron Inc. is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. Our company is the world's leading provider of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on our technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Our products include electricity, gas, water and heat meters, data collection and communication systems, including automated meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI); meter data management and related software applications; as well as project management, installation, and consulting services. To know more, start here: www.itron.com.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

SOURCE: Itron Inc.

Itron Inc.
Deloris Duquette, 509-891-3523
Vice President, Investor Relations
and Corporate Communications
deloris.duquette@itron.com
Kim Papich, 509-891-3590
Itron Communications and Marketing
kim.papich@itron.com
or
for Southern California Edison
Vanessa McGrady, 626-302-2255
vanessa.mcgrady@sce.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009