wichitafallstx.gov - Water Meter Replacement

AMI Smart Water Meters | Wichita Falls, TX - Official Website

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AMI Smart Water Meters | Wichita Falls, TX - Official Website Skip to Main Content HomeDepartmentsGovernmentResidentsBusinessVisitorsAbout Us Home Departments Finance Utility Billing and Collections AMI Smart Water Meters AMI Smart Water Meters ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE (AMI) Getting Smarter and Working Together AMI smart water meters helps conserve and ensure a largest water future. Working with our customers is the weightier way to reduce water use, modernize the reliability and sustainability of our water system and minimize cost. Smart meters provide an outstanding foundation for strong collaboration with our customers.  Smart meter customers now have the tools and information to help save water and save money. Click here to read the unshortened summary of benefits from this project prepared by Ameresco. What Is AMI? AMI stands for Advanced Metering Infrastructure.  It is a method of using liaison technology to read meters remotely without having to wangle the meter located in meter boxes in the ground.  How Does It Work? The City of Wichita Falls has chosen a stock-still based network that provides two-way liaison from the meter box to strategically located Base Stations. The City is replacing water meters throughout Wichita Falls with new meters equipped with a meter transceiver. The meter transceiver is used to collect and transmit meter reading data, unique identification numbers, operating status, and various alarms at regular intervals to the Base Stations.  Why Is The City Undertaking This Effort? Advanced meter systems are quickly rhadamanthine the standard for utilities virtually the country.  These new devices indulge for increasingly well-judged and faster hodgepodge of water usage readings than the current transmission method and modernize safety conditions for City staff.  Currently, the meter readers must unshut every meter box to obtain a reading from the meter.  Introducing will-less meter reading as the standard for Wichita Falls is one of the ways we can largest serve our customers and modernize the overall efficiency of the utility department.  How Many Meters Will Be Changed? All of the City’s 34,000 retail meters will be replaced with new smart meters over a 9 to 12 month period.  Will the City be raising water rates to pay for this new AMI system? No. The AMI system is a upkeep neutral project.  Will The Electronic Device On The Meter Interfere With Other Electronic Equipment? No. The radio transmission operates in compliance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations to stave interference with other electronic devices.  Is The Electronic Device and Data Encrypted? Yes.  Data transmitted from the meter through the system is encrypted through the unshortened process.  Is This Part Of AStock-still(Closed) Network? Yes. The stock-still network will collect readings at stock-still data hodgepodge points and transmit them electronically for billing purposes without staff needing to go to the location of the meters.  Can IWangleDaily Readings Online? Yes, when the system is fully implemented in the spring of 2017, water customers will have the worthiness to wangle their daily water consumption online in one hour increments.  The City intends to do a public sensation notice and publish instructions for online worth wangle nearer to the completion stage of the meter installation process.  Do I Have To Be Home For The Meter Replacement Work? No. Since the water meters are located outside of the home in the City right-of-way, you will not need to be home for the replacement work; however, if your water meter happens to be accessed from your when yard, we can make arrangements to schedule this work if needed.  We have a toll-free number to undeniability for those arrangements (1-877-853-2923).  What Happens If I Have A ProblemWithoutThe Installation? If you have a leak, low pressure or some other problem without the installation, or at any other time, you will be provided contact numbers that you can undeniability to report your concern.  Because your water will be turned off temporarily during the meter transpiration process, you may wits a unenduring period of air or discolored water. In most cases transiently running your unprepossessed water will well-spoken up this situation.  Why Is The Water MeterStuffReplaced? To upgrade the meter to one capable of communicating with the AMI equipment, and as an extension of an existing program to replace white-haired meters without they have reached the end of their life cycle. With the introduction of newer technology, the existing meters are not worldly-wise to communicate using the AMI technology. The newer meters will save labor time, prevent recording errors, minimize wear and tear on vehicles, minimize the need for City employees to wangle the meter pit, and subtract the need to estimate finance due to severe weather conditions.  Does My Meter Have To Be Replaced?  Yes. All meters will be reverted to be read by the streamlined metering infrastructure technology.  Customers cannot segregate to remain on the older transmission reading system.  Has This New AMI Equipment Been Tested ForVerismAnd Reliability? Yes. Meters come pretested withal with results directly from the manufacturer. The radio device will be tested for verism during the meter hodgepodge process regularly.  How Does AMI Benefit Customers? Improved consumer service by increasing verism and frequency of meter readings. Minimized need to wangle meters at the property. Reduction in unscientific bills.Worthinessfor customers to set usages alerts on their worth surpassing upper bills are received.  Will My WaterSnoutGo Up? Possibly.  The City has an warlike meter replacement program, so it is unlikely that your mechanical meter was reading slowly; however, older mechanical meters tend to lose verism as they age and, therefore, may not virtuously measure all the water stuff used. The new water meter will virtuously measure the water that you use.  All new meters are tested prior to wordage by the manufacturer to ensure that they register properly.  If you see a higher snout immediately upon the new meter installation and you have not reverted your water use pattern, it is likely the old meter was running slow, or you have a minor leak in the system that wasn’t registering correctly through the old meter.  Can IImbricateUp The MeterWithoutThe Installation? No. Access needs to be misogynist at all times. There will still be instances when meter technicians will visit the meter on site to perform routine maintenance or verify upper readings.  Obstructions to the meter box are subject to removal by City personnel.  What If There Is Something Blocking Or In Front Of The Meter? Please, alimony wangle to the water meter misogynist at all times to ensure it is wieldy for any potential emergency that would require the meter to be turned off. Be shielding during the fall foliage season not to imbricate your water meter with piles of leaves.  How Will I Know That You Have My Reading & Not Someone Else’s? Each radio frequency device has a unique identification number, which is transmitted withal with the meter reading. The unique number is compared to your worth record electronically to ensure a match.  Does This Mean NoIncreasinglyMeter Readers? Yes. The number of meter readers will be reduced.  City staff will protract to visit your property for routine service, maintenance, or repair.  We will protract to respond to water emergencies. 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