OREANDA-NEWS. Salt River Project (SRP) has signed a long-term agreement with Landis+Gyr to update and expand its advanced metering and prepay technology in a phased, 10-year installation across their service territory.

The utility plans to deploy Landis+Gyr's Gridstream(r) RF network beginning this summer to support ongoing improvements to the technology used by its 142,000 prepay customers. SRP's M-Power program is the largest electric prepayment program in the United States and has been in operation since 1993. The voluntary program helps customers manage their energy budget and drives high levels of customer satisfaction.

Once the network foundation is established and the prepayment revision has been completed, SRP will begin installing more than one million, state of the art, Landis+Gyr E350 AX-SD meters to provide both credit and prepayment options for all their customers. This flexible approach to customer billing requirements makes this project one of the most unique in the industry and a first within the US.

Landis+Gyr is the global leader in smart metering and at the forefront of delivering prepayment technology for a variety of utility services. The Gridstream network, advanced meters with home area network communications and head-end applications support many options for utilities offering prepay services.

Salt River Project is the third-largest public power utility in the nation, providing electric service to about 985,000 customers in central Arizona, including the Phoenix metropolitan area.