The Town of Drumheller is moving forward with plans to change resident’s water meters to new and improved technology.
The smart meter pilot program ran throughout 2011. At the May 28 meeting of the Committee of the Whole, Director of Infrastructure Services Allan Kendrick, summarized the findings and the Town will move forward with plans to install the technology in Drumheller.
The smart meters are wireless and allow staff to read meters remotely. Installation no longer requires drilling holes into homes.
The group that really benefits explains Kendrick is the consumer.
“The real bonus is the meters are really accurate and can flag if there appears to be a problem,” said Kendrick. “We can send information to users that they may have a leak.”
The accuracy of the new system can detect potential leaks. The water usage is measured every fifteen minutes and the data is logged for 96 days.
This isn’t the first time the Town has worked to replace residential water meters. In 1998, the Town joined with ATCO to read meters electronically. Before that, meters were read manually each month.
“If you go back a number of years, we had three people who all they did was read meters and they read every month,” said Kendrick.
More recently, ATCO has been moving forward with wireless meters and the Town’s current system will continue to be supported for a limited time.
There has also been problems with the Town’s existing meters and the frequency they are read. A common complaint, according to Kendrick, is large spikes in bills that coincide with the meter being read.
“We don’t want people in that situation, we want accurate measurements,” said Kendrick. “We always had a number of issues. From our stand point this one is much better. The quicker we get it changed over, the better off we’ll be.”
The decision was then made to try smart meter technology and the results of the trial has resulted in an effort to replace all the water meters in Drumheller within four to five years.
“We’re going to be replacing as many meters as we can this year. We’re going to be aggressive, but there are limitations budget wise and with availability of our staff,” said Kendrick.
For now, the Town will be searching for a contractor to do some of the installations, Town staff will replace any problem meters with the new smart meters, and new houses will have smart meters installed.
The money to pay for the replacement will be coming out of the utilities budget.
“It depends on contracts, but it could be over $1 million, over four to five years,” said Kendrick. “It is our belief if we press on with the program we can provide customers with all the advantages this technology offers.”