1. Journey to Fixed-Base Water and Electric Metering
Art Bahr – Utility Manager and Administrator
Eric VanLaanen & Kelly L. Olson, P.E.
Gresham Municipal Utilities
3. What are they?
• Positive Displacement Meters (Circa 1950)
• Mechanical Electric Meters (Circa 1950-1980)
• Service Connections
• Cash Registers! We were due for a
Replacement
Gresham Municipal Utilities
4. Evolution of Meter Reading at
GMU
• Customer Phoned In or Dropped Readings Off
• Meter Tickets Hung on Doors
• Meter Reader Read the Meter in the
Basement each quarter
• Meter Reader Read an Outside Reader
Monthly
• Meter Reader used a Touch Pad to Read each
Month
• Automated Meter Reading Maintains the
Reading for Whenever Needed
Gresham Municipal Utilities
5. Long Journeys Require Careful Planning
The GMU AMR Timeline
2006 – The Idea Starts - $$$
2008 – Idea is Revisited -Research and Education Begin
2009 – Village Board and Committees are Educated on
the Idea and its Benefits
2010 – GMU Began Visiting Other Utilities to See AMR
Uses and Technologies
2011 – Visioning Starts
2012 – GMU Requests On-Site Demonstrations by Vendors
2013 – AMR Request for Proposal is Developed
2014 – Installation Begins
2015 – AMR System is Commissioned
Gresham Municipal Utilities
6. The Path We Chose
Research Educate Justify Sampling Visioning
Request
for
Proposal
Scoring
of
Proposals
PSC
Approval
Purchase Install
Gresham Municipal Utilities
Our most important considerations.
Our vendors most important considerations.
7. Our RFP Required Input from ALL!
Visioning –
Included the whole team
Meter Technicians – both water and electric
Management
Accounting
Billing
Village Board and Committees
Supplier / Vendor
IT Personnel
Gresham Municipal Utilities
8. Decisions We Had to Make
Meter Types – Water and Electric
Location of Manufacturer
Metering Communication Technologies
Rate Case Decisions
Availability of Outside Support Staff and Local Supplier
Our Experiences With Each Vendor
References of Each Vendor
Technical Training Required to Operate and Install the System
Our Staff’s Comfort Level with the Technology
Project Management Responsibilities
Technologies Used to Maintain the Data
Software Compatibilities
Support and Maintenance Costs
Did We Want to Be Industry Mavericks or Use Proven Technologies
Gresham Municipal Utilities
9. The One Document
That Tied It All Together
“Gresham Municipal Utilities Request for Proposal to Purchase and Install
Automated Meter Systems for Its Water, Sewer, and Electric Utilities”
The one document that summarized our decisions.
The What, Who, Where, and When.
The Specifications
The Legal Guide Used to Generate Our Suppliers Contract.
Gresham Municipal Utilities
10. The RFP Basics
Who – Provides, Installs, Tests, Trains, Supports, Manages the Project, Data
Management, Coordinates Third Party Software (Billing).
What – Equipment Type, Quantities, Computing Environment, Options - GIS,
Outage Management, Alarm and Alert Notification, Customer Portals, and
Data Logging.
Where – On-Site Training, Local Service Territory.
When – Equipment Arrivals, Length of Installation, Commissioning, Substantial
Completion, Training.
Transparency - Develop a fair method of scoring your received proposals, and
communicate your means as to the process you will use.
Set firm deadlines for: Questioning, Receiving, Scoring, and Responding.
The received proposals should give you a complete cost to attain the Vision
your team agreed on. (10-year payback)
Gresham Municipal Utilities
11. Writing The RFP
We did not use a lawyer or an engineer.
There are plenty of templates available on line. Surfing pays off!
Make sure you have permission to use them. The site will say if it’s okay.
Customize for your needs
Don’t Plagiarize!
The RFP is meant to give each proposer an equal
opportunity to give you what you want, based on your
vision and your goals.
Gresham Municipal Utilities
12. Writing The RFP
Gresham Municipal Utilities
Create a way for each Vendor to
guarantee compliance or justify
“why not”.
We used a Compliance Table, in
which every paragraph needed to
be verified.
13. GMU’s Vision
Fixed Base System
RF Based Technologies with FCC Licensed Frequency
Support from Staff Based within the Wisconsin/Mid-Western U.S.
Magnetic Technology Residential Water Metering
Internet Based Web Services Hosted by the Vendor
Reading Data is Secured and Maintained Off Site
All Forms of Metering Available Thru AMR Provider
Capable of Meeting PSC Rate Case
Compatibility with our present billing/accounting software
Friendly / Easy to Use Software Interfaces
Technologies That Matched Our Staff Comfort Levels
Free up and Specialist’s Time for More Important Duties = GREATER EFFICIENCY!
Metering Alarms and Notifications
GIS Mapping
Rate Payer Benefits – Conservation and Rate Plan Options
Record and Maintain Data to Aid in Investigations
Gresham Municipal Utilities
15. Gresham Municipal Utilities - Installation
Gresham Municipal Utilities
We did the installation in-house. (We did look at the cost of contracting it out.)
HD Supply trained our staff on what needed to be programmed, and rented additional units to
push the installations along.
Started with water.
2 people dedicated full-time to the installs.
Created customer awareness. Sent letters with the bills.
Able to coordinate almost all in normal work hours.
Total Duration about 4 months.
Started electric.
Conducted small test-batch first.
3 lineman dedicated full-time for installs.
Prior notification for power outage was important! If situations required, we bypassed service.
Total Duration about 3 months.
16. Gresham Municipal Utilities
Training
Gresham Municipal Utilities
Sensus conducted 3-days of detailed training at GMU.
Training was tailored to positions / meter readers / lineman / billing / customer clerk
and administration.
Sensus also provides on-line training.
17. Gresham Municipal Utilities
Software Integration
Gresham Municipal Utilities
Involved Parties: GMU, Billing System Provider, IT Services, Meter Vendor.
Most of the integration was accomplished on-line.
Integration was tailored to billing clerk and administration.
18. Gresham Municipal Utilities
Testing of System
Gresham Municipal Utilities
Involved Parties: Billing System, IT Services, and Meter Vendor.
Most was conducted on-line, real-time.
Field verification of readings.
Because of clarified RFP requirements, we had minimal “tweaking”.
20. GMU – Sensus Device Manager
Gresham Municipal Utilities
21. Lessons Learned (From Utility)
Internal communication within office for integration.
Importance of integration of customer numbers. We needed to tie the address to the
meter ID#.
Took time for our staff to get acquainted to the system.
Patience and slower pace at times were benefits.
Gresham Municipal Utilities
22. Lessons Learned (From Vendor)
Regular interval for project management calls. Switched from monthly to bi-weekly.
Maintaining good communication with Manufacturer.
Assigning accountability for follow-up and answers.
Anticipating lead times, specific to the First Article of electric meters.
Gresham Municipal Utilities
23. Additional Benefits That We Gained
Cross-Connection Service Inspections = Efficiency of man-hours
Identifying voltage loss at ends of lines = Speeding up the troubleshooting process
Discontinued Use of Sprinkling Meters = Eased billing complications
Replaced Inaccurate and Aged Meters = Increase revenue for water and electric
PSC Investigations More Efficient = Time to investigate now is less
Offer New Rate Options = Greater customer service
Reduction of Workplace Injury = Safer for staff and Workers Compensation Issues
Identification of Customer Leaks = Conservation of resources
Accountability for Customers = Real conversations based on real data
Reduction of lost service revenues = Water and Electric
Gresham Municipal Utilities
24. Super Fun Extra Benefits That We Gained
Incorrect plumbing - bypassing water meters.
Customers turning water back on after being
disconnected for non-payment.
Meters hadn’t recorded usage in years.
7 leaking laterals in one mobile home park! (15,000 gpd!)
1 home with leaking lateral (10,000 gpd!)
Hot Socket Alarms = Saved 2 houses from burning!
Kids at school turned on all showers after a basketball
game, and left.
“OFF” switch at large power customer – bypassing
electric meter!
Gresham Municipal Utilities
