Austin Energy, the 10th largest community-owned electric utility in the nation, has signed an agreement to expand the deployment of a two-way advanced metering system from Cellnet+Hunt.

The agreement calls for Austin Energy to deploy Cellnet+Hunt's two-way mesh AMI system for up to 234,000 residential and C&I meters in 2008. The utility serves nearly 400,000 electricity customers in and around Austin, TX, and has utilized a Cellnet+Hunt fixed-network advanced metering solution for approximately a third of its customers since 2002.

Based on the Cellnet+Hunt RF mesh communications network, Austin Energy's deployment will enable the utility to leverage its network for smart grid and demand response applications. These may include time-of-use pricing, distribution automation, load shedding, remote disconnect and in-home communication.

"This agreement continues our ongoing partnership with Austin Energy and will enable the utility to maximize return on its energy management strategy and achieve its Smart Grid goals," said Tracy Moore, Senior Vice President of Services at Cellnet+Hunt. "The network infrastructure we are deploying for Austin enables the utility to add two-way metering endpoints anywhere in its service territory."

Cellnet+Hunt RF mesh system is the leading two-way asynchronous RF mesh network combining AMI, DA, SCADA and multi-service utility meter operation functions into one Smart Grid network platform. The Cellnet+Hunt RF mesh system is currently operational at over 200 utilities worldwide.

Fri Feb 29 09:51:00 CST 2008