First Itron OpenWay® Smart Meters for Southern California Edison Roll Off Automated Line Today

WEST UNION, S.C. — June 18, 2009 — Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced today that it has started production of more than 4 million OpenWay smart meters for Southern California Edison (SCE).

Selected by SCE as part of its smart metering program, Edison SmartConnect, OpenWay is a standards-based, open-architecture smart metering solution that features two-way wireless communication to state-of-the-art OpenWay CENTRON electricity meters. SCE plans to have all the meters deployed by 2012.

The Edison SmartConnect program is a key component of SCE's leadership in managing increasing demand for electricity from customers and providing environmental leadership through energy efficiency, demand management, electric transportation and smart grid technologies.

"Delivery of the OpenWay system and meters represents an important milestone in the advancement of Edison SmartConnect and our ability to enable customers to make more informed energy choices," said Lynda Ziegler, senior vice president of Customer Service for SCE.

SCE executives were onsite at Itron's Oconee Manufacturing Facility in West Union, S.C., to commemorate and inspect the state-of-the-art meters. In order to meet the new technical challenges and volume opportunities of the Smart Grid market, and to fulfill larger orders such as SCE's, Itron has committed to a multi-year development of a $10 million fully-automated line.

"SCE has been an important Itron customer for more than two decades, and it's been exciting to watch the company evolve into an industry leader in smart metering," said Malcolm Unsworth, Itron president and chief executive officer. "It's important to us that we recognized them for their efforts during this visit. We know the work they're doing today is truly going to influence future generations—it's work we revel in."

Responsible for manufacturing a number of Itron products, in addition to OpenWay CENTRON meters, the Oconee Manufacturing Facility comprises 317,000 square feet, representing world-class manufacturing techniques and a commitment to ISO9000 quality processes. The facility employs 800 of Itron's nearly 9,000 employees. Itron's commitment to keeping this technology in the United States is beneficial to utility customers qualifying for stimulus funds made available by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and its Buy American provision.