Glendale Water and Power awarded a contract to replace electric and water meters with smart meters to South Carolina utility-services contractor Utility Partners of America.

The installation will give 84,500 electric and 33,400 water customers in Glendale access to advanced metering technologies that generate a two-way communication network.

Utility Partners will install its OpenWay “smart-grid” technology supplied by a Spokane-area firm. The equipment as well as leak-detecting sensors, also from Itron, will be used to continuously monitor GWP’s entire water system.

“We sought a partner with the track record and infrastructure to successfully deploy an installation of this magnitude,” saidt Glenn Steiger, Glendale Water and Power general manager. “With more than 6 million meters installed, UPA demonstrated the expertise necessary to successfully make the transition for our customers.”

The contract, whose value was not immediately known, will begin in March of 2010 and is expected to take approximately fourteen months.