“It used to take three days and eight staff members to read gas and water meters for 17 routes of residences on the east mesa, north of Highway 70,” says Jose Provencio, Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) business services administrator. Some of the meter reading was dicey - requiring meter readers to climb behind bushes and under cars to read meters, while sometimes fending off dogs inside yards.
PILOT PROJECT: Last spring, LCU contracted with Mountain States Pipe and Supply to install automated hardware on utility poles as well as gas and water meters along routes on the city’s east mesa. The purpose was to:
- alleviate potentially dangerous meter reading issues,
- reduce time spent reading meters, and
- improve meter reading accuracy.
The results were very positive.
Provencio explains, “Thanks to the automated meter upgrade and pilot project in the east mesa area, meter readers are no longer at risk trying to read meters, and it now takes 10 minutes to read the 17 routes. That’s 2,500 customers with gas and water meters (totaling 5,000 meters) - and results are more than 99% reliable.”
Based on the huge success of the pilot project, LCU staff recommended to the LCU Board of Commissioners that a city-wide project would work, providing advantages to both customers and LCU. At the same time, a private energy service company - Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) - provided early results from a comprehensive Investment-Grade Energy Audit of the utility’s infrastructure and facilities, also recommending a city-wide upgrade to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system.
Based on those results, at the January 16th City Council meeting, Council approved a $22.1 million loan to pay for the city-wide upgrade to automated metering of gas and water meters. The best part? This automation comes at no cost to LCU customers. The investment in the new system will be paid directly from the monthly savings provided by the AMI system.
Stuart C. Ed, Las Cruces city manager explained at the City Council meeting, “We are transitioning to PEAK Performance and performance-based contracting, evaluating performance in everything we do. This is a guaranteed-performance contract with JCI. If the savings aren’t achieved at any point, JCI will write the City a check for the difference.”
BENEFITS TO CUSTOMERS: “After the completion of the city-wide upgrade,” Provencio points out, “customers can experience several benefits: gas and water leaks will be detected before a customer runs up hundreds of dollars of bills, and both LCU and the customer will be alerted in case of a leak. With a computer or smart phone, customers can see their own real-time gas and water usage and billing information and can set alerts to manage consumption.”
Prior to city-wide implementation of the AMI system, LCU will host public meetings to answer any questions from customers.
Submitted by Las Cruces Utilities
You can reach Las Cruces Utilities at 528-3500 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Las Cruces Utilities provides GAS – WATER – WASTEWATER – SOLID WASTE services to approximately 100,000 Las Cruces residents and businesses.