The City of Lloydminster is reminding residents that upgrades to their water meters is mandatory.
The city has been working since June with Neptune Technology to upgrade all water meters in Lloydminster to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure(AMI) system, which uses a cellular signal to determine water usage, and checks hourly for abnormal water usage.
Executive Manager of Operations Rodney Cumby says that the new meters were out of date for the City, and the upgrade was necessary.
“This will allow us to do a wider variety of things. It will help us doing testing, pin-point leaks. This helps both the City and residents in conservation, management so there’s savings for both the resident and the City in the long term.”
There have been concerns from some residents that Smart Meters could over bill consumers due to technical errors. Cumby says they have reviewed the system beforehand, and will continue to do so in the future to avoid these problems.
“With any new system there can be glitches but we’ve moved passed those. The issue was not with the meter itself, the issue was with our billing system and I think we’ve corrected those inconsistencies. I urge all residents to look at their bills, make sure that they are correct and if there’s any issues that they call the City.”
The only requirement for residents, Cumby says, is to get in touch with the City and book an appointment for the installation. Residents do need to be at home during the install, but the City can also book appointments on weekends and evenings if required.