RALEIGH, NC - March 24, 2008
The City Council of Groton, Connecticut has approved a contract for a pilot installation of the FlexNet Advanced Metering solution. Groton Utilities is a municipal utility serving 12,000 electricity and 7,000 water customers in Groton and 3,000 electric customers in Bozrah, Connecticut. Groton Utilities, serving over 35,000 consumers, is an innovative and creative service provider of electric, water, cable, phone and internet services.
“The Sensus FlexNet system met our objective, which was to find the best technology for the price when adding Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to our utility system.” said Herbert Cummings of Groton Utilities. “We conducted a two-year search and carefully evaluated a number of systems. One outstanding feature of FlexNet is the minimal infrastructure required and the added advantage of using existing Groton water tower assets for the needed communications infrastructure. The system will allow us to read electric and water meters without having to send a meter reader to the customers’ location, and in the future, gives Groton Utilities the ability to provide other services to customers such as time of day rates and load control to help customers reduce their bills.”
Key to the reliability of the FlexNet communications system is the FCC licensed dedicated frequency owned by Sensus Metering Systems. This Primary-Use license provides crystal clear transmissions in an uninterrupted, undisturbed path that has up to double the power of competing systems. Only FlexNet customers can be confident in reliable data delivery from a dedicated radio frequency.
“Over the 2-year evaluation period, it became apparent that we were working with a very forwarding thinking and progressive organization. We are extremely pleased that our FlexNet solution will be a part of Groton Utilities cutting edge, customer-focused services,” said Phil Franklin, Manager Strategic Accounts at Sensus Metering Systems.
About FlexNet
FlexNet provides the utility industry’s most reliable and flexible two-way AMI fixed network. Utility customers benefit from the dependable, mission-critical performance of a dedicated, primary-use, FCC licensed and protected communications network combined with ANSI compliant metering, IP-based wide area communications, open standards home area networking, advanced smart grid products, and IP-based information systems. Sensus delivers timely and accurate AMI communications through crystal-clear and massively redundant RF data paths with double the RF power of competing systems. This empowers utilities to communicate with a complete range of endpoint devices including smart water, gas and electric meters, intelligent home devices, and distribution automation equipment in any mix of rural and urban terrain. Forward-thinking utilities confidently choose FlexNet to provide a single-technology solution that reduces cost, mitigates technology risk, enables pricing flexibility and demand response, and improves operational efficiency through reliable performance, industry standards, cross-vendor compatibility, system scalability and future-proof operation.
About Sensus Metering Systems
The Sensus Metering Systems companies are leading world-class providers of water, gas, heat and electric meters including comprehensive metering communications system solutions that comprise both automatic meter reading (“AMR”) and advanced metering infrastructure (“AMI”) systems. Additional linked businesses include Smith-Blair, Inc. a leading provider of pipe clamp & coupling products for the water, gas, and industrial markets; and Sensus Precision Die Casting a producer of complex, high quality die castings.
About Groton Utilities
Groton Utilities is a municipally owned and operated utility providing electric, water, cable television and internet services. Thames Valley Communications (TVC) is the cable television and Internet division of Groton Utilities. Groton serves a population of more than 35,000 consumers in Southeastern Connecticut. Groton Utilities service area includes an important part of the region’s military-industrial complex, including Pfizer, a worldwide leader in pharmaceutical products and research; Electric Boat Corporation, builder of the world’s best nuclear submarines; and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, home of the finest submariners, submarine schools and the Seabees.
Issued 3/24/2008
All statements in this release, other than historical facts, are made in reliance on the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. These statements reflect the Company’s current expectations regarding its financial position, revenues, cash flow and other operating results, business strategy, financing plans, forecasted trends related to the markets in which the Company operates, legal proceedings and similar matters. The Company’s expectations expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements may turn out to be incorrect. The Company’s actual results could be materially different from its expectations because of various risks. These risks, some of which are discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (SEC File No. 333-113658) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, 2007, include its dependence on new product development and intellectual property, and its dependence on independent distributors and third-party contract manufacturers, automotive vehicle production levels and schedules, its substantial financial leverage, debt service and other cash requirements, liquidity constraints and risks related to future growth and expansion. Other important risks that could cause actual events or results to differ from those contained or implied in the forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s ability to integrate acquired companies, general economic and business conditions, competition, adverse changes in the regulatory or legislative environment in which the Company operates, and other factors beyond the Company’s control.
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