Greater Sudbury Hydro and Advanced complete rapid conversion, go live with 66,000 accounts

Electric utility expands CIS Infinity implementation to include billing and customer service for 44,000 water accounts

Sudbury and Toronto, Canada. May 4, 2004

Seeking operational efficiencies and savings for the community, Greater Sudbury Hydro has assumed billing for 44,000 water and wastewater accounts from the City of Sudbury. In partnership with Advanced Utility Systems, the project was completed in 3 months.

In May 2002, Greater Sudbury Hydro implemented CIS Infinity® to provide billing and customer service on electric accounts. They now combine electric, water and wastewater charges in one billing process, with a total of 66,000 active accounts.

"This project meant significantly scaling up our implementation of CIS Infinity" says Frank Kallonen, Manager of Market Services and Information Technology for Greater Sudbury Hydro.

"But it also required a hard look at the water-related business processes, not to mention converting data from the Informix-based system that the City of Sudbury used for water accounts. It was no easy task."

"Advanced recognized that an organized, effective process was our priority. Their experience and their methodologies were a good fit with ours. Now customers get to enjoy the benefits. I'm very pleased."

The benefits include a new, simplified bill, a streamlined billing process, and an annual savings to the community of approximately $250,000.

Advanced counts Greater Sudbury Hydro as one of its most progressive, forward-thinking clients. Patricia Sorbara, President and CEO of Advanced, explains: "This project is another step in Sudbury's ongoing search for efficiencies and service improvements. They are the definitive 'early-adopter' of new technology -- among our first clients interested in CustomerVu™ for electronic bill presentment, and among our first clients to automate their workflow with CIS Infinity Scheduler functionality."

More about Advanced: Advanced Utility Systems Corporation is a privately owned and operated software and services company in Toronto, Canada. The company has grown from its 1997 start-up to serve more than 60 North American and Caribbean water, electric, and natural gas utilities with its billing and customer information solution, CIS Infinity®.

For more information, contact:
Philip Playfair
Chief Marketing Officer
Advanced Utility Systems Corporation
(416) 496-0149 x229

Frank Kallonen
Manager of Market Services and Information Technology
Greater Sudbury Hydro
705 675-1452 x212

Success Stories

Northern Kentucky Water District:
"Our customers needed a seamless upgrade. We had more confidence in the Advanced strategy than any other vendor's -- their implementation and conversion process were designed to flex for a unique situation like ours."

City of Bellevue:
"Throughout the 10-month conversion and implementation project, Advanced brought excellent people to the table, and we've arrived at the end of the project with all our requirements met."