Hank Breitenkam, Assistant Public Works Director

Albert J Carbon III, P. E., Public Works Director

Issue Statement: The City is in need of purchasing 121 replacement water meters to replace the old ones which have to be removed for testing in coordination with the City's Energy Savings Contract (ESCO) approved by City Commission on November 2, 2016.

Recommended Solution:  City Commission approve the purchase of 121 Badger E Series (SMART) Water Meters from Innovative Meter Solutions (IMS).  IMS is the sole provider of these meters in the State of Florida.

At the November 2, 2016 City Commission meeting, Resolution #R-2016-120 was passed to retain the services of ESG to perform energy solution services for the City.

One of the areas being analyzed by ESG to realize energy conservation and to increase revenues is the use of smart water meters. Smart meters have the ability to provide real time information to customers and billing staff. These meters can provide information on small leaks long before the customer would normally become aware of it. Water conservation equates to electrical energy conservation by reducing unnecessary pumping  and treatment costs. The smart meter proves greater revenue generation to the City by being able to accurately measure water especially during extended low flow periods because it does not have moving parts that normally degrade with age in a standard meter. 

In order to ascertain the efficacy of an energy efficiency project that entails the change-out of the city's +/- 8,500 meters mechanical disc meters with solid-state smart meters, ESG is required to perform an investment grade audit/analysis of the our  current system for comparison with the results that can be expected from the new technology.

In the case of our water meters, this analysis will entail removing a representative sampling of the various meter sizes as follows:

Once all 121 meters are removed, they will be sent to ESG's contracted  laboratory for certified testing. Once the overall efficiency of the meters is determined, a calculation can be made on how much increased revenue can be expected from the change-out of all 8,500 meters. As the existing mechanical meters age, they loose efficiency because of their mechanical (disc) parts, not so with SMART meters that do not have moving parts.

As it will be necessary to send the sampling of 121 meters off for testing, replacement meters must be installed in their place.  Instead of replacing the same as the existing mechanical (disc) meters, staff believes it is in the City's  interest to install 121 SMART meters. This would avoid having to remove 121 mechanical meters once the SMART meter technology is implemented.

The total cost to purchase these 121 Badger Smart E-Series Meters from our current contracted vendor, Innovative Metering Solutions, Inc. is $29,961.00 (see attached quote). Since we will be changing +/- 8500 meters, standardization is essential. Innovation Metering Solutions (as a representative of Badger Meter in Florida) is the sole source for the Badger Smart E- Series Meter.  This purchase is below the FY 2017 budget of $75,000 for replacement of water meters. 

The proposed expenditure is as follows: