ITRON REACHES SMART GAS METERING MILESTONE IN THE NETHERLANDS

Itron, Inc. , a world-leading technology and services company dedicated to the resourceful use of energy and water, announced today that Itron customer Netbeheer Nederland, the association representing the interests of national and regional electricity and gas network operators in the Netherlands, including Liander, Enduris, Enexis and Stedin, has reached a deployment milestone, installing 500,000 Itron smart gas meters. The regional network operators will install up to 150,000 additional Itron gas meters by the end of 2016 to help meet their smart metering goals.

The smart gas meters are being installed to meet the European 2020 directive, which advises that by 2020 at least 80 percent of meters in Europe should be smart. Netbeheer Nederland aims to have smart meters installed across its entire territory by 2020 with the goal of increasing awareness about energy consumption and enhancing grid management capabilities. The directive is essential to meeting Europe’s environmental goals, including a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency, 20 percent reduction of CO2 emissions and 20 percent of energy from renewables by 2020.

With the smart gas meters deployed, the regional networks operators are providing their customers with greater insights into their energy usage. Customers were previously billed on an annual basis and are now billed bimonthly. In addition, the regional networks operators have been able to eliminate estimates, increasing billing accuracy.

“Itron has been a great partner to Netbeheer Nederland as we roll out smart gas meters, bringing us one step closer to meeting the European 2020 directive. We are happy to reach this milestone of 500,000 meters installed and to deliver improved service to our customers, with a view on increasing awareness about energy consumption and enhancing grid management capabilities“ said Jan Hofman, program manager, smart metering at Netbeheer Nederland.

“Itron is pleased to help Netbeheer Nederland move toward its goal of meeting the European 2020 directive and benefiting from smart gas metering technology,“ said Frank Hirschmann, Itron director of sales, marketing and delivery for Gas in Central Europe & CIS. “Itron is dedicated to helping our customers responsibly manage the delivery of energy resources. We have a long history of delivering reliable gas metering technologies to utilities across the globe and we are glad to bring this expertise to Netbeheer Nederland.“