SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited ("Toronto Hydro"), one of Canada's largest municipal electricity distribution companies and an Elster customer, was awarded the "Smart Metering Project of the Year" today by the editors at POWERGRID International magazine and PennWell Corp. at DistribuTECH 2012 in San Antonio.

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Toronto Hydro first piloted an Elster Smart Metering solution in 2004 to comply with the Ontario government's Smart Metering initiative. Since that first deployment, the project has grown and the company is utilizing Elster's EnergyAxis Smart Grid systems to read approximately 650,000 electricity endpoints. Toronto Hydro's service area includes approximately 705,000 customers.

EnergyAxis allows the utility to manage programs that encourage consumers to become more aware of their energy consumption, reduce usage and even generate electricity.

"We appreciate our long-standing relationship with Toronto Hydro and are excited to have them receive this prestigious recognition," said Mark Munday, Elster's Chief Technology Officer. "We look forward to continuing to provide Toronto Hydro with innovative solutions options as they invest in further grid modernization."

The "Smart Metering Project of the Year" selection was awarded at the DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition, a leading annual Smart Grid and transmission-and-distribution event. This is the second consecutive year that an Elster customer was recognized by POWERGRID International and PennWell Corp. At DistribuTECH 2011, Salt River Project received the "Smart Grid Project of the Year" award.

About Elster

Elster (NYSE: ELT) is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services - key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.

Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.

For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.

SOURCE Elster