Vic Richey, Chairman & CEO, ESCO

San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- May 8, 2008 – Pacific Gas & Electric Company has placed orders for an additional 100,000 Aclara RF electric and an additional 119,000 Aclara RF gas advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) products from ESCO Technologies, as part of the utility’s SmartMeter™ Program.

Since the inception of its SmartMeter Program, PG&E has placed firm orders with Aclara for 1.7 million total AMI units, including approximately 390,000 TWACS® power-line system units; approximately 190,000 STAR® RF electric units; and approximately 1.1 million STAR RF gas units, along with related network infrastructure and software.

The RF electric units will operate under PG&E's installed STAR Network AMI system which currently manages data from nearly 300,000 gas meters already installed in the region.

Gary Moore, President of Aclara RF Systems, commented: "We are enthusiastic about the performance of our suite of new product offerings, and excited that PG&E will expand its deployment of Aclara's AMI technology for its electric as well as gas requirements in the Central Valley. We believe that this decision will allow PG&E to cost-effectively expand its industry leading AMI system and leverage its present fixed network infrastructure while meeting the requirements of its customers for energy-efficient utility solutions today, and well into the future."

Vic Richey, ESCO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I am very pleased to be partnered with PG&E on this AMI deployment. Although PG&E has not concluded its evaluation of competing electric AMI technologies, we believe this decision to deploy additional Aclara products during 2008 is a promising development and will allow us to demonstrate on a large scale the features and benefits that our hybrid electric solution offers."