Itron, Inc. announced that Consumers Energy has expanded its contract to include modernization of the company's gas distribution system by using communicating digital meter technology. The contract builds upon Itron's existing work with Consumers Energy to help modernize the utility's electric system with Itron's OpenWay® smart grid solution using cellular communications. Itron's smart grid and smart gas solutions are key components of Consumers Energy's Smart Energy program, which aims to improve customer service and energy service reliability.

With Itron's technology, Consumers Energy is able to enhance system efficiency with more insights into system performance, increase billing accuracy through the elimination of estimated bills and improve power outage detection enabling power to be restored faster. The company is providing customers with more energy-saving tools by means of a web portal for tracking their electric usage. Online customer access to gas usage information is also in future plans.

Consumers Energy will install more than 630,000 smart gas communication modules where customers also receive electric service from the company. Gas meters will communicate energy usage information to customer electric meters, which will convey overall energy usage information to Consumers Energy, eliminating the need for estimated reads for either type of meter. The system enhances efficiency and billing accuracy.

Consumers Energy has already installed more than 800,000 communicating digital meters as part of the Smart Energy program, with 1.1 million Itron 4G LTE smart meters in the plans for the remainder of its electricity territory. In addition, the contract includes a 20-year maintenance agreement.