Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Endesa, one of the largest electric power companies in the world with more than 25 million customers in Spain and Latin America, are working together under a multi-year business process outsourcing agreement to facilitate the utility's ongoing smart meter roll-out in Spain.

Accenture is providing back-office support to Endesa's distribution unit as it expands its smart metering operations and is helping the utility integrate its smart meter infrastructure, which provides metering, billing and contract management information, with its existing billing systems and business processes. Endesa is to install more than 13 million smart meters based on Meters and More open technology.

In addition, Accenture is collaborating with Meters and More, an international non-profit association created by Endesa and its parent company, Italian utility Enel, and supported by a consortia of companies, to promote the deployment of smart meters and develop standards for pan-European and worldwide smart metering solutions.

Smarts meters are gradually replacing traditional meters to provide remote management capabilities for utilities. Smart meters can record consumption of electric energy and deliver that information to the utility for monitoring and billing purposes and opens the door to the deployment of smart grids. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and a utility's central system.

"As a member of Meters and More, Accenture is committed to developing new solutions to support the deployment of smart meters globally," said Matias Alonso, Global Managing Director for Accenture's Utilities industry group. "We are focused on working with Endesa to promote smart metering solutions not only across Europe but also in its other key markets, such as Latin America."

As required under Spanish regulations, Endesa will install more than 13 million smart meters in Spain by 2018 and is planning to extend the smart meter program to its customers in Brazil, Colombia and Chile. Since the launch of its smart meter infrastructure roll-out in June 2010, Endesa has installed more than 3.5 million smart meters based on Meters and More open technology in the regions where it operates in Spain (Andalusia, Extremadura, Aragón, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Catalonia).

Endesa's smart meter program will provide customers with detailed information regarding energy consumption, and will enhance the performance of its distribution network by improving billing accuracy, contract management, energy efficiency, outage detection and restoration of service when outages occur.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Endesa

Endesa is Spain's leading electric utility and the largest private electric multinational in Latin America. At the end of 2012, the company provided direct employment for 22,807 people, of which 11,504 worked in Spain and Portugal and 11,303 in Latin America. Since the first quarter of 2009, Endesa has been part of the Enel group, the largest electric utility in Italy and the second largest in Europe in installed capacity. Enel is an integrated player in the power and gas industries, operating in 40 countries all over the world. It has 98 GW of net installed capacity and sells electricity and gas to serve approximately 61 million customers.

Building on Enel's success and experience in remote management in Italy, with more than 34 million smart meters in operation, Endesa has been a pioneer in the Spanish electricity industry with the launch in 2009 of a plan that provides for the replacement of 13 million smart meters for its domestic and commercial customers (powers up to 15 kW). Remote management is the technology backbone for the development of smart electricity distribution networks (smart grids), as it provides solutions for the development of smart cities, the integration of distributed generation power systems, the incorporation of renewable energy to network, the integration of electric vehicle charging and management of street lighting.

Accenture
Allen Valahu, + 33 1 53 23 57 54 / + 33 6 24 99 24 42 4212 (mobile)
allen.valahu@accenture.com
or
Justyna Devraj, + 44 207 844 0090
justyna.devraj@accenture.com