City Council has approved awarding the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) contract to Neptune Technology Group Inc for $1, 570, 625.
The city says the move to AMI will allow the city to do monthly utility billing without the extra cost of manually reading meters each month. Â Mayor Gerald Aalbers says this will help efficiency, as well as the rental properties.
“Because of the length of the time between billings and in the rental accommodation business it was frustrating for those landlords because people had left town and all of sudden they were getting a $400 or $300 water bill.”
The projected annual savings are over $90, 000.
Another benefit is the reduction in water loss.
“I often hear calls from people saying I got this extraordinarily high water bill and it’s two months later and things like that, they didn’t realize they had a leaky faucet or a leaky toilet. So we’re going to have the technology that people will phone and we can immediately give them that kind of information.”
Collection towers will need to be set up in the city. The proposed locations are:
- Bishop Lloyd School (there is a pre-existing tower here)
- Operations Centre
- Civic Centre Arena
Neptune Technology says if more than four towers are needed they will pay for it. This project is coming in under the original budget of $1, 800, 000.
The City hopes to have monthly billing in place by the end of 2018.