RALEIGH, NC - July 28, 2006
Sensus Metering Systems announces that it has recently signed a comprehensive subscription services agreement with Southern Company, a premier electric utility serving the Southeastern United States, that provides for the deployment of the Sensus FlexNet® Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system across Southern Company’s electric distribution territory. The comprehensive AMI services agreement covers the four distribution companies of Southern Company – Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power – and enables each of these entities to now move forward to deploy the Sensus FlexNet AMI system at a pace that will best serve each distribution company’s strategic needs for an AMI system.
“Needless to say, this is a very exciting event for Sensus Metering Systems,” says Dan Harness, CEO and President of Sensus. “This was an opportunity that we had been working on for the past few months with our then AMI partner Advanced Metering Data Systems (AMDS). To be able to announce this agreement with Southern Company on the heels of our acquisition of AMDS indicates the positive direction that Sensus is heading.”
Under the services agreement, Sensus will operate and maintain the FlexNet AMI network and backend server infrastructure to agreed service levels which includes field maintenance response time and data management throughput. Georgia Power, whose service territory includes the Atlanta metro area where Southern Company’s headquarters is located, will be the first unit of the company to contract with Sensus under the newly signed Master Agreement. Georgia Power will immediately order and begin deployment of 35,000 FlexNet iCon® meters. Another Southern Company operating company, Alabama Power, had previously installed 50,000 FlexNet meters, and from the performance of the system, helped form the foundation to the services agreement.
“The FlexNet AMI system has demonstrated its technical performance across the Southern Company service territory in three operating companies; in environments ranging from flat coastal plains to mountainous terrain, and in rural and urban locations,” states Ellery Queen, Chairman, Southern Company AMR Steering Committee. “The system operated to its design specifications. With this agreement, each of our operating companies can proceed with their planning for deploying a proven fixed network solution at known costs.”
Details of the agreement were not disclosed, but it is a multi-year services agreement that includes pricing for FlexNet network equipment and network monitoring services. On June 2, 2006, Sensus entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets and assume certain identified liabilities of AMDS. The transaction closed one month later on July 6, 2006.
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 About Southern Company
With 4.3 million customers and more than 40,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast, one of America’s fastest-growing regions. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are significantly below the national average. Southern Company has received the highest ranking in customer satisfaction among U.S. electric service providers for seven consecutive years by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Visit our Web site at www.southerncompany.com.
Issued 7/28/2006
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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