ESCO Technologies, Inc., recently announced that Mexico's electric utility provider, the Federal Commission of Electricity, issued an additional purchase order for Aclara PLS Inc.'s TWACS power-line technology through Ambar Electroingenieria, Aclara's AMI distributor for Mexico, and prime contractor for the entire project. The initial prime contract was awarded in December 2009.

The FCE is Mexico's single electric utility provider, servicing nearly 34 million customers countrywide. Aclara's TWACS technology is now being deployed as part of the FCE’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project. This follow-on purchase order now provides an expanded deployment of Aclara's pole-mounted and socket-type TWACS AMI solution in Acapulco, an important seaport serviced by the FCE’s South-Central Division, which will support the utility's AMI project. One of the key features of this AMI implementation is the installation of in-home displays that will allow FCE to enhance its customer service through improved communications.

The first purchase order in December 2009 was for approximately 90,000 meters, along with the option for an additional 90,000 meters which was available under the original contract. This follow-on order represents the additional 90,000 units. Together these combined purchase orders represent the largest individual contract ever placed by FCE for a two-way AMI communications system, and also makes Aclara the leading AMI technology supplier to this utility.

In a release, Gary Moore, COO for Aclara, said, "It has been a great pleasure working on this AMI project with FCE as they continue to implement the TWACS technology. This follow-on order demonstrates FCE's satisfaction with our proven technology and clearly enhances our strategic partnership with this progressive utility. We look forward to continuing a productive, long-term relationship with FCE as it moves forward with its efforts to implement AMI and Smart Grid Technology throughout Mexico."

The FCE now plans to deploy new metering end-points in several major cities in Mexico over the next few years to leverage state of the art AMI features that include remote meter reading, interval read capabilities, outage management, asset modernization, customer service upgrades, aggregate demand, energy balance, voltage quality and other cost-savings and efficiency solutions.

More than 500 utilities in nine countries rely on Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Aclara is a part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO.