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Xcel Energy a Finalist in Edison Electric Award for Utility Innovations |
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| SPOKANE, WA - May 5, 2006 (News Release) | |
Xcel Energy was nominated for its one-of-a-kind Utility Innovations initiative, a visionary project that leverages the power of partnership and collaboration to drive cutting-edge developments in technology. Itron is one of the Utility Innovations partners, working to pioneer new solutions more quickly to meet key challenges in the area of utility operations, energy delivery and customer service. In the spirit of collaboration, Xcel Energy and the Utility Innovations partners have agreed to share intellectual property and project development that was conducted in an open and transparent process. Given annually by EEI, the prestigious award honors U.S. shareholder-owned and international members for outstanding contributions to and advancement of the industry. This year's award will be announced June 20 at the EEI annual convention in Washington, D.C. "Working with Xcel Energy, we've taken the concepts of Utility Innovations to other utilities around the country and talked with them about it," said LeRoy Nosbaum, chairman and CEO for Itron. "Through Utility Innovations, we've worked directly with the customers to provide products that not only hit the mark for utilities now, but anticipate what they will need in the future. Xcel Energy richly deserves such recognition for their leadership, forward-thinking and the persistence to make this happen." About Utility Innovations The Utility Innovations initiative is a visionary effort on the part of Xcel Energy and its technology partners - IBM, Indus, Itron, CES, SPL WorldGroup and Mercury - to bring together new technologies in a spirit of innovation to meet key industry challenges in the areas of utility operations management, asset management, workforce optimization, and revenue assurance. By leveraging the power of technology and innovation to improve business results in each of these key areas, the goal of the Utility Innovations initiative is to improve Xcel Energy's responsiveness to the needs of its customers while also optimizing the utility's cost structure. About Itron Itron is a leading technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and water industries. Nearly 3,000 utilities worldwide rely on Itron's award-winning technology to provide the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron creates value for its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for electricity metering; meter data collection; energy information management; demand response; load forecasting, analysis and consulting services; distribution system design and optimization; web-based workforce automation; and enterprise and residential energy management. To know more, start here: www.itron.com . For additional information, contact: Christina Kelly |
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