Itron South Africa Receives BEST Employers™ Accreditation

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — September 1, 2009 — Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced today that its South African division has received BEST EmployersTM accreditation for 2009/2010 from CRF International. Besides receiving this internationally-recognized mark of quality, Itron will also be included in the BEST EmployersTM South Africa annual publication, providing a pivotal platform to communicate its employer brand offering both locally and internationally.

BEST Employers™ is a research-based employer brand accreditation and promotion project executed annually by CRF, a publishing company that conducts research into best business practice in twelve countries on three continents.

Itron was independently researched using CRF’s HR benchmarkTM survey across several areas of talent and human resource management such as organizational strategy, diversity management, employee training and development, social responsibility and performance management.

Itron’s approach to human resources encourages empowerment, accountability and self-development. The company is a pioneer of borderless careers, a concept where career paths are developed across various disciplines, with research, engineering, IT, sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resources and finance all benefiting from this fusion of expertise. Moreover, Itron’s policy is to compensate employees based on their contribution to accomplishing identified business goals.

As Christophe Viarnaud, Itron general manager for Southern and Eastern Africa, says, “We embrace the idea that diversity is a competitive advantage, therefore, we promote and protect it. A fundamental tenet of our core values is the belief that every Itron employee adds unique value to the company. Diversity expands our knowledge.”