ESCO's Aclara Power-Line Systems Inc. TWACS advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution has been selected by Idaho Power (IPC) for its entire electric service territory.

The total value of purchase orders anticipated to be issued under this contract are approximately $25 million and the system is expected to be deployed over a three year period beginning in early 2009.

IPC is involved in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electric energy in a 24,000 square mile area in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon serving approximately 500,000 metered endpoints.

IPC initially deployed the TWACS power-line solution several years ago with a 25,000 unit deployment intended to substantiate the business case for AMI and to test customer response to time-of-use billing and demand response/load control programs. The successful performance of this technology over the past few years was a significant factor in IPC's decision to expand to a system-wide TWACS deployment.

IPC plans to purchase the most advanced TWACS meter modules to collect interval data for current billing needs and to support planned time-of-use billing and demand response programs that are designed to allow the utility and its customers to better manage energy consumption and related energy costs.