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Benton PUD Builds a Foundation for the Future with Sensus
[June 19, 2018]

Benton PUD Builds a Foundation for the Future with Sensus


Located in the heart of Washington State's Tri-Cities-also known as "Washington Wine Country" - Benton Public Utility District (PUD) serves more than 50,000 customers across Kennewick, Finley, Benton City, Prosser and outlying areas. While residents of this "year-round paradise" are known for a sense of fun and adventure, they want their electric utility to be serious about reliable and efficient service.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619005402/en/

The Sensus AMI solution pinpoints previously undetected issues for Benton customers. (Photo: Busines ...

The Sensus AMI solution pinpoints previously undetected issues for Benton customers. (Photo: Business Wire)

To proactively address customers' needs for higher quality service, Benton PUD realized they needed to think bigger about their electricity infrastructure, and that meant upgrading to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology. They turned to Sensus, a Xylem brand, for a solution.

As part of their solution the utility wanted a network that would allow for fast communication with electricity meters while also serving as the foundation for future applications. After evaluating AMI solutions, the Benton PUD team determined that the Sensus AMI solution would lay a foundation for future success. One of the biggest factors in the decision was the Sensus FlexNet® communication network, a robust, two-way communication network that offered exactly the right capabilities to meet both current and future needs.



"We wanted to deploy a network that would allow us to improve communication with customers, so AMI made sense," said Benton PUD Operations Director Steve Hunter. "We also felt the FlexNet system was an extremely reliable network that would allow us to develop more capabilities and extend additional benefits to our customers."

Benton PUD's AMI solution also included the Stratus® electricity meter. The utility team believed that the accuracy of the Stratus meter would improve customer service and found the meter's remote connect/disconnect functionality attractive.


"This AMI solution has enabled us to improve our response time to outages and pinpoint issues we previously would have never detected," said Hunter.

Since its deployment, the AMI solution has offered great success for Benton PUD and its customers. The FlexNet system has provided the flexibility and security the utility desired. Benton PUD is able to work more proactively on behalf of its customers by communicating with them and initiating repairs more quickly.

"We know we made the right choice with Sensus because the value of our network has increased over time," said Hunter.

Read the case study to learn more about Benton PUD's foundation for the future and benefits to customers.

About Sensus

Sensus helps a wide range of public service providers-from utilities to cities to industrial complexes and campuses-do more with their infrastructure to improve quality of life in their communities. We enable our customers to reach farther through the application of technology and data-driven insights that deliver efficiency and responsiveness. We partner with them to anticipate and respond to evolving business needs with innovation in sensing and communications technologies, data analytics and services. Learn more at sensus.com and follow @SensusGlobal on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

About Xylem

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative technology solutions to the world's water challenges. The Company's products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residential and commercial building services settings. Xylem also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water, electric and gas utilities. The Company's more than 16,500 employees bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York with 2017 revenue of $4.7 billion, Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.

The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all - that which occurs in nature. For more information, please visit us at www.xylem.com.


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