Itron Announces CPS Energy as 2021 Innovator Award Winner

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Oct. 6, 2021 — Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is innovating the way utilities and cities manage energy and water, announced that CPS Energy is the winner of the Itron Innovator Award for its leadership in addressing energy and water issues by using its network infrastructure to pilot partner products. The award, which was presented virtually at Itron Inspire 2021, recognizes an Itron customer that has leveraged Itron’s partner enablement programs to deliver a breakthrough solution that solves challenges in energy and water efficiencies and smart communities. CPS Energy was recognized for its collaborative community leadership and smart city application pilot, which took advantage of multiple IoT sensors developed through Itron’s partner enablement program, including ambient noise, air quality, flood and parking sensors.

Itron and CPS Energy collaborated with the City of San Antonio along with Itron partners Rongwen, TerraGo, Tomorrow.io, Utility Systems Sciences and Services and Cleverciti, to deploy a smart city application pilot, which showcased integrations with Itron’s intelligent multi-application network and its central management software for smart cities, Streetlight.Vision. The pilot tested air quality, temperature, ambient noise, parking and flooding. Taking advantage of Itron’s services, the streetlight sensors provide real-time operational performance.

CPS Energy was also recognized for its collaboration with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) to deploy Itron’s smart water communications modules on the same wireless network as CPS Energy’s smart meters using a Network-as-a-Service delivery model. This pilot program, contracted by Itron, provides SAWS customers with the ability to track their water use in near real-time. All 2,500 residents included in the pilot are able to access their energy and water usage virtually, helping them to save money and avoid waste with features like leak detection.

“We are delighted to present the 2021 Itron Innovator Award to CPS Energy. The collaboration between Itron, Cleverciti, Rongwen, Utility Systems Sciences and Services, the city of San Antonio, SAWS and CPS Energy and other community stakeholders sets a great example for other cities and utilities to work together to create smart, resilient and more connected communities,” said John Marcolini, senior vice president of Itron’s Networked Solutions.

“CPS Energy’s commitment to innovation also encompasses educational collaboration and program outreach with the Smart Energy Education initiative. This initiative, powered by community partnerships and corporate social responsibility efforts, strives to improve energy and water literacy, encourage conservation and inspire future innovators toward career paths in our industry,” added Marcolini.

“Our smart city pilot is a great example of how collaboration can help the City of San Antonio become a smart city,” said Frank Almaraz, Chief Power, Sustainability & Business Development Officer for CPS Energy. “With our customers top of mind, the collaboration with SAWS and Itron allows us to see the potential of how a smart and more resilient city can preserve precious resources while working to maintain excellent customer satisfaction. We are honored to receive the third annual Itron Innovator Award.”

The Itron Innovator Award recognizes a utility or city customer that has leveraged Itron’s partner enablement programs to deploy a breakthrough solution.  The solution demonstrates an Itron customer’s use of ecosystem tools and services such as development kits and innovation challenges or the customer’s selection of a partner that has done so. Additionally, the solution has been successfully integrated with Itron technology and utilizes Itron’s networks or distributed intelligence capabilities. Past winners include Western Power in 2020 and Con Edison in 2019.

Itron’s vibrant partner ecosystem is essential in delivering innovative industrial IoT solutions to create a more resourceful world. With Itron’s ecosystem, cities and utilities are taking advantage of Itron’s partner network to deliver best-in-class solutions for today’s challenges such as improved operations and resource efficiency, enhanced safety and smart connected communities. To learn more about the Itron partner enablement programs, visit https://itron.com/partners.