Dive Summary:

• The project – which is in its “early days” – involves Duke’s operations in Ohio and the Carolinas.
• Itron hasn’t commented publicly on the project, but Duke spokeswoman Paige Layne said that the utility will be using Itron’s meters to replace manual-read meters at some homes and businesses.
• This could be a big step forward for Duke, which to date hasn’t smart-metered most of its customers; the largest chunk of smart meters for the company is its 700,000 meters in Ohio.

From the article:

During a conference call last week to discuss Itron’s second-quarter 2012 results, CEO LeRoy Nosbaum let slip a mention of a small but intriguing contract for the smart meter giant -- a $43 million project with Duke Energy.

Nosbaum wouldn’t say much more about it, beyond that it was “early days” in a project that involves Duke’s operations in Ohio and North and South Carolina. “As for opportunities beyond that, I'm not just going to speculate on that at this moment,” he said, but “it’s incumbent upon us to do a good job.” ...