News
November 25, 2008
City Completes Installation Of New Water Meters
The City of Raleigh has completed installing approximately 174,000 new water meters at homes and businesses in the City’s utility service area. The new meters will allow for more accurate and efficient reading for utility billing purposes.
Crews from the City’s Public Utilities Department and from Utilities Partners of America, the project contractor hired by the City, began installing the new water meters in October 2006. The City initially didn’t expect the water meter installation to be complete until 2012, but was able to finish the project four years ahead of schedule because more money was allocated for the work. The project cost $29 million. Receiving the new water meters were residential and business customers in Raleigh, Garner, Wake Forest , Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon. The project also involved installing backflow prevention devices on some residential properties.
“This has been a tremendously successful and satisfying project, one of the most successful projects from my perspective in my 24-year career with the City of Raleigh,” said Dale Crisp, director of the City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department . “ Raleigh ’s water and sewer customers will reap the benefits of this technology application and installation for decades to come."
The new automated meter reading system has many benefits for the City of Raleigh and its water customers. The new meters have radio units that enable the City to read meters remotely, placing less physical demands on meter readers who had to manually lift meter box lids to read the meters. Manual meter reading left meter readers exposed to insect and snake bites and back injuries from lifting the meter box lids repeatedly throughout the day. The radio units on the new meters will not interfere with medical or electronic devices inside a residence or business. Other advantages of the new automated meters is that they can be accurately read even when the water meter box is hidden or covered by leaves, snow, vehicles or other objects. Manual meter reading could not be done when the meter box was covered. Finally, with the new meters the City eventually will return to issuing utility bills on a monthly basis instead of the bimonthly billing now used. Also, some customers could receive higher utility bills if they had older meters that are not as accurate.
For more information about the new water meters, contact Donna Jackson, the City of Raleigh ’s assistant Public Utilities director, at 857-4540.
Prepared by:
John Boyette
Public Affairs Specialist
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Dale Crisp
Director
Public Utilities Department
One Exchange Plaza, Suite 620
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-857-4540
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