Itron and OpenPeak Partner to Allow Utilities and Their Customers to More Actively Manage In Home Energy Consumption

DENVER — Autovation 2009 — September 14, 2009 — Today, Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced a partnership with OpenPeak Inc. for integration of Itron’s industry-leading advanced metering systems with OpenPeak’s Home Energy Management Solution. Combining the technologies will allow utility companies and their customers to more actively manage in-home energy consumption to save money and help preserve the environment.

Itron is the first advanced metering vendor chosen by OpenPeak to incorporate its line of user-friendly, multimedia touch screen units into its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)/smart grid network. Under terms of the agreement, Itron will provide ERT reading technology to OpenPeak. This means a single reading device can be used with either an OpenWay® installation or many of Itron’s legacy ERT-enabled devices for electric, gas or water service, helping customers leverage their existing Itron investment.   

Said Philip Mezey, Itron North America senior vice president and chief operating officer, “Itron’s advanced meters, installed in homes, have the power to unleash a tremendous amount of valuable data about the fluctuating price of electricity, or the rate of natural gas consumption. OpenPeak’s Home Energy Management Solution organizes and presents this data on an extremely engaging touch screen device, empowering consumers to monitor and modify their energy consumption.”

Continued Mezey, “For our utility customers, Itron’s collaboration with OpenPeak means better management of the power grid, eliminating the need to build out expensive power generating systems.”
 

The OpenPeak Home Energy Management Solution provides a simple user-friendly display of the real-time energy usage and pricing data provided by Itron’s advanced metering systems. OpenPeak’s technology also provides a centralized user interface for thermostats and communication capabilities including demand response event notification. Its integration with OpenWay and ChoiceConnect enables utilities to better manage and communicate residential demand response programs to help conserve energy when demand is at its peak. For example, consumers who have signed up for a utility's demand response program can reduce their nonessential usage by cutting back on lighting and cooling in underused parts of their home when the electrical grid is near capacity.

“To realize the personal benefits of home energy management over the long-term, consumers need a simple and compelling way to get involved, and to stay engaged in the process,” said Dan Gittleman, CEO and founder of OpenPeak. “Our devices provide easy touch-screen access to energy usage information which allows families to not only reduce their consumption, but also to see the benefits of their efforts by displaying real-time usage data.” They can actually see how much money they're saving by making adjustments in their own home.”

Both companies’ technologies support a variety of communication standards including ZigBee and WiFi, allowing for true interoperability, which is foundational to the burgeoning smart grid.
 

The solution also eliminates the need for a homeowner to change devices when an electric utility upgrades from the AMR capabilities provided by ChoiceConnect to the advanced smart grid functionality of OpenWay. Additionally, by leveraging OpenPeak's back-end services platform and suite of downloadable applications, the same device can deliver a complete information and communication experience including news, sports, weather, social networking, music, and family photos, all of which help to create long-term user engagement.

Concluded Mezey, “Customer education and customer empowerment go well beyond the success of the smart grid—they’re vital to preserving our dwindling resources. OpenPeak’s solution is another example in a growing list of creative mechanisms that utilities can utilize to interact with their customers. Itron welcomes these types of advancements, as well as conversations about how these emerging technologies fit with Itron’s vision for the future.”