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CITY COUNCIL <br />WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />ITEM NO. 7 <br />STAFF ORIGINATOR: Justin Williams, Public Works Superintendent <br />WORK SESSION DATE: November 6, 2023 <br />TOPIC: Utility Meter Reading Equipment and Customer Portal <br />______________________________________________________________________________ <br />BACKGROUND <br />Staff’s current operations to obtain quarterly meter readings are done in a drive-by fashion. A <br />radio signal is sent out to the MXU (Meter Transceiver Unit). The reading on the meter is <br />communicated from the meter to the MXU and back to the receiver in the truck and stored for <br />export into City utility billing software (Springbrook). Currently, the City does not offer any type <br />of customer portal with analytics to support how the customer is using water. <br />Staff is looking to implement a tower base station and antenna located at the Water Tower #3 <br />(1750 Birch Street) and custom portal. This will allow for 1200 MXU radios to be read on an <br />hourly basis, with the MXU communicating back to the base station every 4 hours. The <br />customer portal will allow every resident with a utility account to see their use on a monthly <br />basis. Once all MXU’s have been upgraded, the city can then reprogram the meters city-wide to <br />move from a 1,000-gallon resolution down to a 1-gallon resolution and allow the customer to <br />be in control of their water usage. The customer portal will have an app for ease of use. The city <br />will also be able to detect leaks after the meter. Toilets, sinks, and irrigation systems are all <br />common culprits of excessive water use and would be able to be detected with the <br />implementation of this system. <br />City staff will also benefit from implementation. Staff can expect to see reduced times to read <br />meters, increased accuracy in annual reporting to State agencies, provide customer <br />explanations on water bill concerns, and send updates to MXU’s and radios as updates become <br />available. <br />The funding source would be Sewer and Water Enterprise funds. Ongoing annual fees have <br />been budgeted in the Water Fund earmarked as Meter Technology Upgrades. Estimated total <br />project cost is $149,278. Annual fees of $28,871 are not to exceed 3% year over year. <br />318