HomeMy WebLinkAbout11 WaterMeters Reading system Agenda Item # 11
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ACTION
To: Board of Directors
From: Neil Kaufman
Date: September 17, 2008
Subject: Award of a Contract for Water Meters and Automated Meter Reading System
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
AB 2572 requires the District to begin reading all water meters and billing on a volumetric basis.
Implementation of residential meter reading will require a number of Board actions and will have
a financial impact on the District.
2. HISTORY
ent Law (SB 229) was enacted. This law required that water
In 1991, the Water Measurem
meters be installed on all new commercial and residential water connections as of January 1,
1992. SB 229 did not require the retrofit of meters onto previously existing customers. SB 229
does not require that the water meters be read and does not require billing of customers on a
volumetric basis. The District has been installing water meters on all new connections since
1992 and is in compliance with this law.
On September 29, 2004, AB 2572 was signed into law. AB 2572 requires that the District begin
reading the water meters installed since 1992 and commence billing on a volumetric basis by
January 1, 2010. AB 2572 also requires that all connections be equipped with water meters and
billed on a volumetric basis by January 1, 2025.
On April 16, June 18, July 2 and July 16, 2008, workshops were held to discuss the metering of
water services. A three phase approach has been identified to cover the implementation of
metering and volumetric billing:
• Phase 1 is a pilot program to be completed by November 2008
• Phase 2 will achieve compliance with the 2010 deadline of AB 2572
• Phase 3 will achieve compliance with the 2025 deadline of AB 2572
On July 23, the Board approved the Water Metering Implementation Plan. This document
described the District's intention to meter all water system customers and begin volumetric
billing of all customers by January 1, 2013.
3. NEW INFORMATION
A Request for Proposals (RFP) for water meters and a new Automated Meter Reading System
was issued on July 28. Five proposals were received in response to the RFP.
Three proposals were received for a drive-by system
• National Meter and Automation (Badger Meters and Badger Orion AMR system)
• Measurement and Control Systems (Neptune Meters and Neptune MTX AMR system)
• Western Nevada Supply (Sensus Meters and Sensus AMR System)
Two proposals were received for a fixed base system
• Measurement and Control Systems (Neptune Meters and Neptune Aclara AMR system)
• Vulcan Construction & Maintenance (Elster Meters and Datamatic AMR system)
All three drive-by systems function in a similar manner with a vehicle mounted radio receiver
used to collect the meter reads. The District has run field trials on both the Badger and Neptune
systems and the Neptune system has a stronger radio signal and increased range compared to
the Badger. Field trials have not been conducted on the Sensus system. The Neptune and
Sensus meters have better resolution (0.1 gallons) than the Badger meter (10 gallons). The
Neptune mobile system is also the only one that can read the District's existing electric meters
so there would be a single in-vehicle computer for the meter readers to manage instead of two
separate units. Badger has a partnership that allows Badger drive-by water meters to be read
by a fixed base system in conjunction with Tantalus electric meters. Badger also has better
compatibility with the District's existing Sensus meters.
The price proposals for the drive-by systems are:
Proposal Cost
NMA— Badger $2.76 million
MCS— Neptune $3.10 million
WNS— Sensus $3.12 million
These costs do not include sales tax
All three systems have similar warranties on battery life and it is expected that the ongoing
maintenance costs of all three systems would be similar.
There are some technological differences between the two fixed-based systems. The
Datamatic system has a mesh network structure where the meter-mounted radios communicate
with one another and relay meter readings to a collector unit that transmits the data to the
District office. This mesh network allows two-way communication between the District office
and the meters. The Neptune system is a point-to-point system where the meter-mounted
radios communicate directly with the collector. This communication is one-way only from the
meter to the District office.
From technical standpoint, one system is not clearly superior to the other. As an example, the
Neptune meter and register is a better product than the Elster meter and register proposed with
the Datamatic system. The Neptune system also has better capabilities regarding adding
electric meters. The Neptune system also has a longer expected battery life (20 years vs. 12-14
years). However, the Datamatic system provides full leak detection and backflow detection
functionality with a number of different meter manufacturers while those features are only
available with Neptune meters when using the Neptune system. In addition, the two-way
communication of the Datamatic system allows programming changes to be done from the
District offices, while programming changes for the Neptune system must be done in the field.
The price proposals for the fixed-base systems are:
Proposal Cost
MCS— Neptune Aclara $3.3 million
Vulcan — Elster/Datamatic $4.1 million
These costs do not include sales tax
At this time, the Neptune fixed-base system is recommended, mainly due to the lower cost,
better meter register, and the longer expected battery life. There is a cost difference of about
$550,000 between the Badger drive-by system and the Neptune fixed-base system. There is
added functionality available with the fixed base system. These issues are summarized in the
table below:
Parameter Badger Neptune
Drive-b Fixed-Base
Number of meters per radio 1 2
Bad er & Sensus meters
Number of meters per radio NA 1
Ne tune meters
meter-mounted radio battery life 20 years with 10 year full Same as drive-by
replacement warranty and
following 10 yearspro-rated
Water meter manufacturer Badger
Neptune
Water meter resolution 10 aallons 0.1 gallons
Radio Fre uenc Ran a 900 - 916 MHz 450 - 470 MHz
FCC License Re uired No Yes
Data Collection Under Normal Once per month 4 times per day
Operations (Adjustable up to 24x per day,
More frequent reads will
impact batter life
Leak Detection Capabilities full capabilities with full capabilities with
Bad er and Sensus meters Neptune meters only
Tamper Detection Ca abilities Yes Yes
Batter life indicator No Yes
Special Reads Must visit site No additional effort required
Migration path to Fixed-base Available with Tantalus Not Applicable
S stem Electric Meters
Electric Meter Compatibility No Cannot read existing meters
Meter with remote shut-off
capability is available
Planned Future Capabilities Hybrid fixed/drive-by Mesh network between
network collectors. Can add other
devices SCADA to network
Phase 1 Pilot Pro ram Costs $143,000 $217,000
Total Initial Cost $2.5 million $3.3 million
Annual Costs Minimal Backhaul communications
costs cell phone, $10,000
The fixed base system will allow the District to provide a higher level of customer service to its
customers with a pro-active leak detection program and the ability to process
disconnect/reconnects without any field work. The fixed base system will also allow the Water
Department to track water consumption against well production to assist in identifying leaks on
the District-owned piping.
As noted in the above table, the full leak detection capabilities are only available when using
Neptune meters. The programming logic and data logging associated with these functions is
resident in the meter register and not in the radio. Therefore, connecting a Badger meter
register to a Neptune radio will allow reading of the meter but will not provide the enhanced
functionality.
The cost to install a new Badger register and Neptune radio on an existing Badger meter body
is about $204. The cost to install a new Sensus register and Neptune radio on an existing
Sensus meter body is about $216. The cost to install a new Neptune meter body, register and
radio is either $237 or $262 depending on the size of the existing meter. It is estimated that
every residential meter in the system could be replaced for an additional cost of about
$200,000.
4. FISCAL IMPACT
The price proposals for the lowest cost systems are summarized below:
Phase Badger Neptune
Drive-By Fixed-Base
Phase 1 $110,000 $232,000
Phase 2 $1.52 million $1.90 million
Phase 3 $1.32 million $1.37 million
Total $2.95 million $3.5 million
These costs include an estimate for sales tax
The Water Department included about $266,000 in its FY 2008 budget to cover the Phase 1
pilot program. To date, about $42,000 has been spent, mainly on District labor. With a cost of
about $232,000 for the meters and AMR equipment, it is expected that the overall Phase 1 pilot
program will be over budget by about $44,000 when the remaining District labor is included.
Previous presentations to the Board estimated the total project cost at $10 million as shown
below. This cost included purchase and installation of the meters and AMR system, along with
retrofit/upgrade of meter boxes and District labor for administration and inspection.
Phase Cost
Phase 1 $250,000
Phase 2 $2.0 million
Phase 3 $7.7 million
Total $10.0 million
The presentations to the Board assumed a cost of $250 per meter for the purchase and
installation of the meters and AMR system. With 12,400 meters, the average cost of the drive-
by system is about $238 and the average cost of the fixed-base system is about $282. The
price proposal for the Neptune fixed-base system fits within the current estimates for the overall
project. The table below shows the current cost estimates for the project.
Phase Meter/Radio Meter Box District Cost
Cost Upgrades Labor/Inspection
Phase 1 $232,000 $0 $98,000 $310,000
Phase 2 $1.9 million $0 $200,000 $2.1 million
Phase 3 $1.37 million $6.0 million $430,000 $7.8 million
Total $3.5 million $6.0 million $730,000 $10.2 million
The planned funding source for this work is the proposed surcharge that has been discussed at
prior Board meetings.
It is recommended that the District proceed with the Phase 1 Pilot Program with the Neptune/Aclara
fixed-base system at a cost of $232,000. The Water Department will provide a status report to the
Board in March or April of 2009 regarding the system performance during the Winter. At that time,
the District will need to move forward with Phase 2 of the project.
5. RECOMMENDATION:
Award a contract to Measurement and Control Systems for the provision of Neptune Meters and a
Neptune/Aclara fixed-base AMR system.
Ed Taylor, Water Utility Manager Michael D. Holley, General Manager