ABB Wins $2 Million Contract to Supply ION Meters to Four Largest Texas Utilities.

Business Editors/Energy Writers

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001

Texas Utilities Choose ION(R) 8400 and ION(R) 8500 Power

Quality/Revenue Meters To Meet New Infrastructure Metering

Requirements for Deregulation 

ABB Electricity Metering, a leading provider of electricity meters and system solutions throughout the world announced today it has been awarded sales contracts totaling $2 million from four member companies of the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

ERCOT represents a bulk electric system located within the state of Texas and serves about 85% of the state's electrical load. Under the terms of the contracts with TXU Electric & Gas, Reliant Energy, Inc., Xcel and American Electric Power West, ABB will supply a combination of ION 8400 and ION 8500 advanced revenue meters. The ION meters are manufactured by Power Measurement Ltd., of Victoria, BC (Canada) and marketed exclusively by ABB Electricity Metering.

The ION 8400 and 8500 meters are the first socket-mount energy meters to combine advanced power quality analysis, data/event recording and multi-port communications with revenue-class, three-phase metering. The ION meters feature high visibility displays, high accuracy measurements, power quality measurements, communications protocol support and compliance reporting. With this exclusive feature set, ION meters provide information that can help utilities, ESCOs and energy marketers reduce operating costs by maximizing uptime and offering optimum value to customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The deregulation of the electricity industry in Texas created a need for new metering infrastructure to provide high-accuracy billing, security and real-time interface with utility SCADA systems. The real-time interface with SCADA provides Independent System Operators (ISO) with the information needed to properly manage the reliability of the Texas utility grid. Because deregulation allows multiple, non-affiliated organizations to access the same meters using their own systems, increased security measures will be needed. The enhanced security features of the ION 8400 and ION 8500, combined with a new requirement that meters conform to the ANSI C12.20 Class 0.2 standard, prompted these utilities to select these meters from ABB. The ION meters are the first meters in today's market with direct Ethernet support by MV-90(TM) billing software. An Ethernet link to MV-90 gives unlimited access to the most recent meter data, eliminates costly telephone line fees, and allows faster, more reliable modem-free communication with remote meters.

TXU Electric & Gas, Reliant Energy, Inc., Xcel and American Electric Power West are members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), one of the 10 Regional Reliability Councils in the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) Organization.

ABB Electricity Metering of Raleigh, N.C. (http://www.abb.com/metering), a division of ABB Automation Inc., designs and develops advanced electricity meters and creates information technology solutions and infrastructure for meters and meter data management systems. ABB serves customers in manufacturing, process and consumer industries, utilities, the oil and gas sector and infrastructure markets. ABB's U.S. operations (http://www.abb.com/us), headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., employ over 16,000 people at manufacturing and other facilities in 40 states. Worldwide, ABB employs about 160,000 people in more than 100 countries and reported revenues of $23 billion in 2000.