TXU Electric Delivery and Landis+Gyr Sign Agreement for 400,000 Automated BPL Meters

TXU Electric Delivery and Landis+Gyr Sign Agreement for 400,000 Automated BPL Meters
Monday October 23, 9:00 am ET


DALLAS, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- TXU Electric Delivery, the regulated transmission and distribution business subsidiary of TXU Corp., has signed a landmark agreement with Landis+Gyr, manufacturer of state-of-the-art advanced meters, to purchase 400,000 meters with broadband over power line (BPL) capabilities in 2007.
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"Our contract with Landis+Gyr is a major step forward in TXU Electric Delivery's drive to develop the nation's first automated, smart electric grid," said Jim Greer, vice president, asset management, TXU Electric Delivery. "TXU Electric Delivery is following through on its strategy of implementing innovative technology to improve reliability, safety and customer satisfaction, as well as provide a platform for new energy management and billing options for consumers."

Advanced, digital meters continuously record and report information about the electric system, making it possible to know automatically when the power is out, where to send repair crews, and when the power is back on. This steady stream of data helps reduce restoration time when outages occur, pinpoint problems on the system, and provide a constant supply of information on the system's overall performance.

TXU Electric Delivery plans to have its three million automated meters by 2011, complementing an advanced grid intelligent enough to monitor electric service real-time. By year end, TXU Electric Delivery expects to have 370,000 automated meters system-wide, including 10,000 BPL-enabled meters.

"TXU Electric Delivery's decision to award Landis+Gyr this supply contract for advanced meters confirms the strength of our long-term, collaborative relationship that has developed over many years. This project, in conjunction with CURRENT Technologies, will result in a world class Automated Meter Information solution," said Jerry Figurilli, chief operating officer of Landis+Gyr.

CURRENT Communications Group, through its subsidiary CURRENT Technologies, will provide BPL-enabled communications technology for the Landis+Gyr meters. On December 19, 2005, TXU Electric Delivery and CURRENT announced an agreement for CURRENT to install a BPL network serving approximately two million meters on TXU Electric Delivery's power distribution network, creating the nation's first BPL-enabled network. Through this agreement, CURRENT will provide the bandwidth to support advanced technologies enabling improved reliability and provision of new energy management and conservation services by third parties to consumers.

"We applaud this critical milestone in TXU Electric Delivery's visionary effort to utilize a state-of-the-art communications network overlaid on its electric delivery system to improve the end-to-end management of that system- from substation to meter to the home or business," said Thomas J. Casey, CURRENT's chief executive officer. "We're privileged to be a part of this effort and hope it serves as a model for others in the industry."

TXU Electric Delivery's automated meter network will use BPL-enabled meters and other meter technologies in order to increase network reliability and power quality, prevent, detect and restore customer outages more effectively and implement system-wide automated meter reading.

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