Itron Inc. announced it has signed a contract with Bay State Gas, a subsidiary of NiSource Inc., to provide the Westborough, Mass.-based natural gas services company with an automatic meter reading (AMR) system to collect data from meters in Bay State's Massachusetts service territory.
Bay State Gas will purchase from Itron a total of 261,000 radio-based AMR meter modules along with a mobile AMR data collection system and meter reading software to automate approximately 240,000 residential meters and 21,000 commercial and industrial meters throughout Bay State's service territory. Installation of the new system, which will be carried out by Bay State Gas, will begin immediately.
"I firmly believe that in today's highly competitive energy marketplace, state-of-the-art AMR technology is critical to reducing the cost of service while improving the quality of service," said Kenneth M. Margossian, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Bay State Gas and Northern Utilities. "The implementation of Itron AMR technology will provide Bay State Gas with a cost effective meter reading system that will deliver quality service to our customers."
"We're delighted that Bay State Gas has chosen to continue its partnership with Itron for this very important project," said John Hengesh, vice president and general manager of Itron's Natural Gas Systems Business Unit. "Bay State Gas is a great example of a utility that has moved through the deregulation process and is ready to invest in critical data collection and customer service technologies required to be successful in the new competitive environment."
Itron Inc. is a leading provider to the energy and water industry of solutions for collecting, analyzing and applying information about electric, gas and water usage. Its systems are installed at approximately 2,000 utilities in over 45 countries around the world and are used to collect data from 275 million electric, gas and water meters.
Bay State Gas Company is an energy services company serving more than 300,000 natural gas customers in Massachusetts, and through its Northern Utilities, Inc. subsidiary, located in New Hampshire and Maine. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of NiSource Inc. – a holding company whose primary business is the distribution of electricity, natural gas and water in the Midwest and Northeast United States.
SOURCE: Business Wire
