Sol Plaatje Municipality provides improved Customer Service delivery and Revenue Protection with Itrons Turn Key Methodology

Sol Plaatje (Kimberley, South Africa) — 22 December, 2009 – Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI), is proud to announce, in association with Sol Plaatje Municipality, the successful implementation of the Eclipse On-Line Prepayment vending system coupled with a turnkey revenue protection and meter installation project.

A change in leadership within Sol Plaatje Municipality during the last quarter of 2008 brought a fresh approach to handle critical service delivery and revenue collection issues which had plagued the municipality and customers for nearly a year. In line with Sol Plaatje’s Supply Chain policy, the municipality called on Itron to achieve improved levels of customer service delivery, coupled with a concise revenue assurance plan.

Itron’s superior expertise in this area along with its experience and knowledge of the prepayment electricity market helped to quickly improve revenue collection. Itron not only deployed in record time its Eclipse On-line Prepayment system, it supplied and installed over 5,000 Prepayment meters and assumed the project management, training and system integration functions.

The system has provided Sol Plaatje Municipality with numerous benefits such as improved customer service, a larger footprint of vendors and a consolidated customer management database. One of the many benefits of the On Line system to the end consumers is to allow them to buy prepaid electricity tokens from any 3rd party vendor locally, as well as any of the major retail stores nationally and via Internet and cellular phones.

More critically, in excess of five thousand bypassed Prepayment meters were identified and addressed. This has led to the municipality recovering more than one million Rand in additional revenue per month, ensuring a quick payback for the project.

Dhasi Naidoo, Business Manager Itron South Africa, explained ”The successful results achieved in Sol Plaatje Municipality were remarkable given the complexity and short deployment time of the project, which demonstrated tremendous commitment and courage from both entities. We are proud to be associated with Sol Plaatje Municipality in improving both the financial viability of Sol Plaatje Municipality and the satisfaction of users of its Electricity services, and we look forward to a long standing business relationship”.

“Itron never allowed the circumstances to change their resolve and remained steadfast and committed in delivering the associated turnkey services. Sol Plaatje Municipality is proud to be associated with Itron for the implementation of this system. The success of this project shows tangible proof of progress and the capability of our Municipality to provide a quality service to the community” said Mr. Everyday, Executive Mayor of Sol Plaatje Municipality.