Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.2 / Trend A.Badalova/
The U.S. Itron, Inc. will provide more than 400,000 gas smart payment meters to SOCAR "Azeri Gas" Production Union (PU), which is a part of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), the U.S. company reported.
The report said that the new meter deployment follows a previous project that included installing 250,000 smart payment meters in and marks the start of the second phase of the project, which will cover the remainder of the country.
Meter deployment is underway and expected to be completed in February, 2013.
"With Itron's smart payment meters rolling out across Azerbaijan, consumers will benefit from the convenience of recharging their payment cards at several points of sales located throughout the country, including self-service terminals, the report said. With increased availability and simple access, consumers will be better equipped to effectively manage their gas consumption."
The managing director at SOCAR "Azerigas" PU Akbar Hajiyev said that the selecting Itron for phase-two deployment was based on the success of the phase-one project. "After rolling out 250,000 meters in 2010, we know that Itron's solution can scale up to meet our needs nationwide," he said.
Itron regional manager at Middle East Energy Muness Charara said that the company is dedicated to continuing their long-term partnership with SOCAR "Azeri Gas" PU.
"We've delivered gas smart payment meters to Azerbaijan since early 2010, and we believe the service and support we've provided will now help us build a strong gas smart payment metering platform in the Caspian region of Central Asia," he said.
Itron is the leading provider of energy and water resource management solutions for nearly 8,000 utilities around the world.