The Town of St. Paul is moving toward automatic water meter readings, after approving the purchase of 3,000 used meter registers, at a cost of $1 a piece.
Council and administration heard a presentation from Kathy Lawrence with Accu-Flo, regarding the registers, which are a necessary piece to the municipality moving toward the automatic reading system.
The price to purchase the used registers, which will be compatible with the majority of water meters in town, is exponentially cheaper than purchasing new registers from the same company.
The original investment into installing the system to do automatic water meter readings was pegged at close to $1 million. Purchasing the used registers will lower that estimate by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Currently, the town’s system requires residents to call or email in, their water meter readings regularly. Automatic water meter readings would nullify the manual entry work that takes place, and would sync with the municipal billing system.
Along with allowing automatic readings to be done, the technology also allows for leak detection, and gathers digital information on water use in a home. One example that was given to council noted that a community with about 2,000 customers found that about 20 per cent of the residences had some sort of leak, and was using more water than needed.
Also, the technology allows for municipalities to pick up on customers who may be abusing the system. Lawrence explained that in once case, a neighbourhood was switching their meters back for a week, and then switching them forward again. While the meter still showed consumption, it did not show the proper amount.
The automatic meter system allows for municipalities to look at usage, and see if anything unusual is taking place, since it allows for no-flow detection.
If the system is installed, Town of St. Paul public works staff members will simply have to walk by, or drive by, residences to do water meter readings. One of the systems allows staff to walk by residences, with a device, while another system is quicker and allows for staff to drive by residences with the needed equipment mounted in a truck.
The first system would take one to two days for staff to do meter readings, while the drive-by option can be done in a few hours, heard council.
Lawrence explained that Spruce Grove upgraded its entire system, installing a higher-end register on all meters within the municipality.
“There’s nothing wrong with these,” said Lawrence, when speaking about the used registers that were taken out of the homes. In fact, they still have 10 years worth of partial warranty on them, she explained.
Regularly, the registers would cost over $300 each to purchase. While the registers won’t fit on the older water meters in town, Lawrence noted that meters over 35 years old should be replaced regardless.
The cost difference between purchasing an estimated 2,400 meters at the used price of $1 per register, compared to new, is drastic.
It’s a “golden opportunity,” said Lawrence.
She explained that the software and other necessary equipment to make the system work would cost between $18,000 and $24,000, which includes training.
Mayor Maureen Miller admitted that the offer seemed almost too good to be true.
At the end of the Monday night meeting, council brought the matter forward for discussion.
“That’s a hell of a deal,” said Coun. Ron Boisvert.
Coun. Nathan Taylor noted that if estimates are correct on the number of meters the registers will fit, and if town staff can do the install of the registers themselves, then the cost savings are huge.
Even if there are more meters to replace than town staff estimates, the cost savings are still worthwhile, added Taylor.
“My own caution is staff time,” said CAO Kim Heyman. She noted that she would like to get a better sense from public works staff how much work it will take to install the registers.
While the matter does need to go back to administration for further planning and details, councillors noted they did not want to miss out on the opportunity.
Taylor said he was in favour of purchasing enough used registers now, and phase in the project, with some work being done now, and other work being done later.
Council approved a motion to purchase 3,000 registers at $1 a piece, so that there would be extra registers on hand. Council then directed administration to research options for further equipment to get the system up and running.
