ESCO Announces Aclara AMI System Win

ST LOUIS, Nov. 24  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE) today announced that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has selected the Aclara RF Systems Inc. STAR® Network for its citywide Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project. The project is expected to begin in early calendar 2010. The SFPUC, with 170,000 retail customer accounts, will be the first major California water utility to install AMI technology to track water consumption.

Aclara(TM) is part of ESCO's Utility Solutions Group, and this win solidifies its coast-to-coast AMI leadership position in the water industry. More than 100 cities have deployed the STAR Network system, including New York City, Boston, Kansas City and Washington, D.C., as well as smaller municipals such as Leesburg, Va., Ann Arbor, Mich., Beverly Hills, Calif. and Corpus Christi, Texas. The STAR Network system is configurable to meet the requirements of any size city, employing low-frequency radio signals to transmit meter readings on a schedule determined by the utility.

The STAR Network system will send hourly consumption data to the SFPUC four times daily. Currently, most residential water meters in San Francisco are read once every two months and commercial meters are read monthly, with meter readers required to individually visit and read each meter manually. This labor intensive and infrequent process makes it difficult to detect silent leaks, which can result in significant water loss and high water/sewer bills for customers.

"Our Aclara fixed-network AMI system will give the SFPUC and its customers more frequent and reliable information about their water consumption," said Gary Moore, President of Aclara RF Systems Inc. "Our proven technology, successfully installed and operating in large cities like New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston, will be a powerful tool to preserve sustainable water resources and help San Franciscans conserve water and combat future droughts."

Data from the STAR Network system will allow SFPUC staff to immediately flag surges in water consumption and detect possible leaks. Eventually, customers will be able to log on to their own accounts with the SFPUC to monitor their water consumption habits and billing.

"With California facing long-term threats to our water supplies and natural resources from climate change and population growth, literally every drop of water counts," said SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington. "Automated meters will give the SFPUC and our customers more accurate information about water consumption that will help us detect leaks faster and conserve more."

ESCO, headquartered in St. Louis, is a proven supplier of special purpose utility solutions for electric, gas and water utilities, including hardware and software to support advanced metering applications and fully automated intelligent instrumentation. In addition, the Company provides engineered filtration products to the aviation, space and process markets worldwide and is the industry leader in RF shielding and EMC test products. Further information regarding ESCO and its subsidiaries is available on the Company's web site at http://www.escotechnologies.com/.

About Aclara

The Aclara brand represents one of the industry's leading Intelligent Infrastructure(TM) technologies for providing device networking, data-value management and customer communications to water, gas and electric utilities globally. Over 500 utilities in nine countries rely on proven Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Aclara is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO. Further information is available on Aclara's web site at http://www.aclara.com/ . 

DATASOURCE: ESCO Technologies Inc.



CONTACT:  Patricia K. Moore Director, Investor Relations of ESCO

Technologies Inc., [phone]; or media inquiries, David P. Garino,

[phone], for ESCO Technologies Inc.



Web Site:  http://www.escotechnologies.com/

http://www.aclara.com/ 

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