The United Illuminating Co. is attracting a lot of attention for its advanced metering system.

The Orange-based utility played host late last month to representatives for from a Chinese utility, whose members are shown at left. Later this month, UI will be hosting a delegation from Pakistan.

 The Pakistani visit is part of the U.S. government's Utility Exchange program. The visitors from China, which included a group from the Inner Mongolia Electricity Power Group Corp., were invited to Connecticut by UI's meter vendor, Landis + Gyr.

“At UI, we’re proud to share what we’ve learned during our successful advanced meter program with our industry colleagues — both at home and abroad,” Joe Thomas, the utility’s vice president for Electric System Operations and Client Fulfillment, said in a statement.

    

UI began advanced metering with its Network Meter Reading system in 1999, collecting daily reads from all its 325,000 customers. In 2010, after refreshing the network for full two-way capabilities, UI rolled out its digital advanced meters.

 Since 2010, UI has deployed digital advanced meters to customers across its service territory, providing the advanced features and capabilities of the two-way meters.

The digital advanced meters are capable of two-way communication with the electric grid and customer equipment, expanding UI’s operational capabilities and supporting automation of metering and billing functions, such as collection of advanced meter data, enhanced outage information, assistance with storm restoration, improved efficiency in responding to service calls, and other features.