In mid-February, Glendale Water & Power awarded a $4.2-million contract to Greenville, S.C.-based Utility Partners of America Inc., as the Southern California city joined a nationwide move to so-called smart water and electric networks. The advanced metering infrastructure will act as a two-way communication network to connect the meter to the utility and to the customer.
Utility Partners is the same company that won a $7.5-million contract for similar work in Sacramento, Calif., in November. It has installed an estimated 6 million meters across the country. The 33,400 new water and 84,500 electric meters UPA will install in Glendale will be supplied by Itron Inc., a publicly held meter and data-collection systems manufacturer based in Liberty Lake, Wash. Utility managers can remotely collect, monitor, report, initiate and turn off service. UPA also will install leak-detecting sensors to make trouble-shooting faster and easier. Project management and technical support are being provided by Burlington, Mass.-based KEMA Inc.