Gas NW Natural Gas Total Automation to Reach 635,000 Meters Utilizing Itron Technology Oregon utility expands reach of proven AMR solution into Portland and Salem. click here for more information Route Optimization: Itron's Answer to High Fuel Prices For energy and water providers, Itron offers utilities several strategies to beat high gasoline prices—a benefit not only to the bottom line, but also to the environment and the future. click here for more information

NW Natural Gas Total Automation to Reach 635,000 Meters Utilizing Itron Technology

Itron has signed an agreement with NW Natural Gas to automate an additional 375,000 natural gas meters in Portland, Ore., using Itron’s mobile automated meter reading (AMR) technology. NW Natural began its AMR program in 2006 and has already automated more than 260,000 meters in its territory using Itron technology. “The technology has proven itself,” said Kay Steele, NW Natural Gas mobile AMR project manager. “We are truly pleased with the success

of the initial deployment and consider the additional installation a natural progression.” NW Natural considered a number of technologies before choosing an Itron system. Cost reductions and operational efficiencies were the primary drivers for automating its more rural territories first. NW Natural had a joint meter reading arrangement with the electric utility in Portland and delayed upgrading the area to mobile AMR until the arrangement was completed. “We met our business case objectives with Itron’s mobile AMR technology and are excited about bringing the benefits to the remainder of our customer base,” said Steele. “Itron has been a great partner in this project and we look forward to deploying their newest generation of higher powered gas module, the 100G, during the next phase.” Part of the Itron ChoiceConnect™ suite of data collection systems, the 100G Gas ERT® module provides a seamless pathway from mobile to fixed network AMR. In the future this allows NW Natural to seek the benefits of more frequent collection of metering data if desired. “Itron’s ChoiceConnect system provides NW Natural with flexibility for future requirements while delivering solid benefits today,” said Mike Zimmer, Itron vice president of western region sales. “NW Natural’s decision to expand its mobile AMR deployment is a validation that they chose the right technology and the right deployment strategy. We value our ongoing relationship with NW Natural and look forward to working with them on this phase of their automation strategy.”

Route Optimization: Itron’s Answer to High Fuel Prices

Enter ‘four day work week’ into your computer’s Web search engine and you’ll likely find a substantial number of stories related to the nation’s high gasoline prices. In our personal lives, we’re carefully planning our daily errands before getting in our cars, looking for the most efficient way to get from point A to B. In an attempt to reduce gasoline consumption, businesses and individuals are seeking alternatives to escape pain at the pump. Though for many utilities, responsiveness to customers is required

seven days a week and cutting back to a four-day week, or making fewer stops along the way, may not be feasible. Customer service for electric, gas and water utilities also requires large fleets of vehicles, making rising gas prices an even larger concern. For energy providers, through use of the ChoiceConnect™ suite of automated meter reading (AMR) products, and Water SaveSource™ for water providers, Itron is offering utilities several strategies to beat high gas prices—a benefit not only to the bottom line, but also to the environment and the future. Through partnership with RouteSmart Technologies, a software provider specializing in route optimization solutions for complex, high-density utility industry routing applications, Itron helps solve a wide range of fleet and personnel routing challenges. “Itron recognizes the need to reduce expenditures by streamlining daily operations,” said Rich Layton, Itron product manager. “With this goal in mind Itron has partnered with RouteSmart Technologies to provide system solutions that allow utilities to optimize route processing and minimize drive time. This not only saves employee time, but can reduce gasoline consumption which is more important than ever before.” Combining RouteSmart’s GIS-based technology with Itron ChoiceConnect solutions enables utilities to quickly, easily and regularly reroute their fleets based on up-to-the-moment changes in service area. It also helps to sequence meters in read order and convert traditional walk/drive routes to AMR. ChoiceConnect also offers the ability to migrate from handheld and mobile reading systems up to the advanced functionality of a fixed network when deploying high-powered electricity and gas endpoints. The ChoiceConnect Fixed Network significantly reduces the number of meter readers, vehicles in the field and associated fuel costs, as well as providing utilities with interval data collection, outage detection and restoration notification capabilities. For water utilities, the Water SaveSource network works in much the same way, eliminating the gasoline costs associated with collecting meter reads from the field and also providing accurate consumption reads and tamper alerts for improved revenue assurance. For more information about route optimization and how Itron can help, please contact Peter Sanburn.