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BOISE, IDAHO, Dec. 21, 2011 – Idaho Power has completed the installation of approximately 500,000 “smart” electric meters for customers throughout its service area, wrapping up a three-year project that enables customers to have more information about their energy use.

The new meters are part of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and the overall Smart Grid project. They’re smart because they send usage data automatically for billing. Information is sent via power lines so manual meter reading is no longer required.

“This has really improved our service to customers,” said Project Manager Mark Heintzelman. “We’re not going into customers’ yards or disturbing their dogs; and it’s extremely accurate. Meters are read remotely and the data goes directly from a customer’s meter to our billing system.”

Communication between each meter and the customer information system is automated and precise. Before the smart meter installation, Idaho Power collected 6 million meter reads per year. The company now collects 13 million meter reads per day or 14 billion reads per year.

Heintzelman said, “Usage data is sent securely over the power lines—that means no radio frequency or wireless transmission, which has been a concern with other utilities.”

In addition to cost-savings that benefit the customer and the company, other benefits include:

• eliminating 80 vehicles from the Idaho Power fleet;

• saving on fuel and maintenance costs because employees are no longer driving 1.6 million miles per year to read meters; and

• eliminating access issues like locked gates and protective dogs.

Customers are encouraged to learn more about their home or business’s energy usage by becoming an Account Manager on the Idaho Power website.

More information also is available in the AMI case file with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and on the Idaho Power website.

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE: IDA), Boise, Idaho-based and formed in 1998, is a holding company comprised of Idaho Power Company, a regulated electric utility; IDACORP Financial, a holder of affordable housing projects and other real estate investments; and Ida-West Energy, an operator of small hydroelectric generation projects that satisfy the requirements of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. IDACORP’s origins lie with Idaho Power and operations beginning in 1916. Today, Idaho Power employs approximately 2,000 people to serve a 24,000 square-mile service area in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. With 17 low-cost hydroelectric projects as the core of its generation portfolio, Idaho Power’s 492,000 residential, business and agricultural customers pay some of the nation’s lowest prices for electricity. To learn more about Idaho Power or IDACORP, visit www.idahopower.com or www.idacorpinc.com.