La Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz -CNFL- of Costa Rica installs ALPHA Plus Meters.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- High Accuracy Electronic Electricity Meters Help Improve Collections and Increase Revenues

Elster Electricity, LLC announces that Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.A. (CNFL) is installing its largest ever acquisition of electronic meters in Costa Rica for commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential use. CNFL distributes electricity in the most densely populated area of the country, the central region or the Great Metropolitan Area. Elster's ALPHA(R) Plus meters are part of CNFL's project to collect time-of-use data (TOU) in commercial and residential areas throughout San Jose, Costa Rica in Central America. The ALPHA Plus meter is a highly reliable C&I meter that performs well in tropical and sub-tropical climates.

"We are excited to be working with CNFL on their implementation of electronic meters," remarked Fabio Dominguez, international sales and marketing manager for Elster Electricity. "CNFL and its parent company, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), are known in the industry as being one of the most technology-oriented utilities in the world. The advanced features of the ALPHA Plus meter will help CNFL reduce losses and improve collections."

According to Alvaro Vazquez, manager of metering for CNFL, "The implementation of electronic meters in Costa Rica is helping CNFL increase revenues and improve customer satisfaction. By using the advanced features of the ALPHA Plus meter such as load profiling and power quality monitoring, we are able to analyze demand and energy data immediately, generate more accurate bills, and improve customer satisfaction. The ALPHA Plus meters are part of a TOU program being implemented with residential customers. The high level of technical support provided by Elster was a key factor in choosing the ALPHA Plus meters as part of this implementation."

ALPHA Plus Meter

Elster Electricity's ALPHA Plus meter uses powerful, patented ALPHA(R) metering technology to automatically validate meter service connections, perform power quality monitoring, and provide load profile reading with remote communications. The ALPHA Plus meter is available as a single phase, 240 volt, one-rate demand meter or a polyphase, wide voltage supply, multi-rate, real/reactive meter.

About Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.A. (CNFL, S.A.)

La Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.A., is a public government company incorporated legally as a private corporation. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is its major shareholder holding 98.6% shares, with the remaining shares held by private national shareholders. CNFL distributes electricity in the most densely populated area of Costa Rica--the central region or Great Metropolitan Area, where most of the population resides and where commercial and institutional activities of the country are concentrated. It has a service area of 903 Km2 which represents 2% of the national territory. CNFL has the important responsibility of providing electricity to 40% of the clients of the Costa Rican electrical system grid who consume 46% of the total electricity consumed in Costa Rica. The electrical system grid from CNFL covers more than 98% of its service area, making CNFL the largest distributor of electricity in Central America. Visit CNFL's website at www.cnfl.go.cr.

About Elster Electricity, LLC

Elster Electricity, LLC, a subsidiary within E.ON's Ruhrgas Industries, offers integrated, cost-effective solutions including advanced electricity meters, communication solutions and metering automation systems for residential and commercial and industrial applications. Elster Electricity (formerly ABB Electricity Metering) is located in Raleigh, North Carolina and is a leading provider of electricity metering products and services throughout the world. Designed to meet the diverse electricity metering requirements of a global customer base, Elster's metering products include advanced high accuracy ANSI and IEC electricity meters, featuring the EnergyAxis(R) System's intelligent two-way communications with the new electronic REX(TM) meter and the ALPHA(R) meter line. Elster Electricity serves customers through a global sales force. Visit Elster Electricity's website at www.elsterelectricity.com.