Metering.com 23 AUGUST 2016
The city of Klamath falls in Oregon state announced its plan to expand its automated metering infrastructure project to enhance operations of its water department.
According to a local publication, the city approved the purchase of water transceiver systems to allow automatic meter reading of some 4,000 water meters in the city.
The transceiver units are expected to cost $529,635 and last for 20 years.
The installation of the transceivers will mean that all of the water meters in the city will remotely transmit usage data to the city’s water utility.
The development is expected to curb estimated billing and enhance customer service by curbing customer churn.
Currently, approximately 12,200 water meters in the city are using the new metering infrastructure since the city began the deployment of the system in 2010.
Randy Travis, manager of the city’s water division, said: “It’s going to give us the ability to read all the meters, all at once; give us the ability to monitor consumption at the meters on an hourly basis if we want to. It gives the Utility Billing a great tool to respond to customer questions … We’ll be able to identify leaks that happen at 2 o’clock in the morning this way. It’s just phenomenal possibilities. It will actually open up the possibility someday for our customers to monitor their own water usage through smartphones and home computers.”
Water metering projects in the US
In early August, the US city of Cedar Park in Texas state announced that it will kickstart its project to install smart water meters in September through to the first quarter of 2017.
The Texas city will replace its existing 22,000 water meters with the new smart meters to enhance its water metering and billing. The system is expected to help consumers save water and save on their bills.
The new metering system is expected to help in lowering operational expenses through a reduction in water leakages and theft. In addition, the system will help Cedar City to do away with expenses associated with the traditional manual meter reading. [Hardware segment leading smart water management market].
Through the project consumers will be able to view their usage data via an online platform updated every four hours.