Advanced water meters continued to be installed for customers

Professional Meters, Inc. continues to install the advanced water meter reading (AMR) system for the City of Guthrie’s water customers.

A PMI crew member works a meter on E. Oklahoma.

PMI Director of Installations Amy Collins says they hope to complete the project by May 18. Collins says approximately 3,800 meters will be replaced when completed.

Advanced metering works via wireless technology to send readings to regional collectors that transmit the usage data to City Hall. Regional collectors are located on existing water tanks and towers. The innovative system replaces monthly manual reads with the wireless system that collects multiple remote reads per day, allowing for better leak detection, increased billing accuracy and improved customer service.

The upgrade, which is not an additional cost to customers, generally takes about 10 minutes to install and are generally done between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Water is temporarily turned off to be sure the meter is working properly. Once completed, crews will leave door hangers at all entrances to the property informing the residents of the status of the visit.

Unlike a cell phone, which is “on” all of the time and emitting radio frequency as it searches for a signal, the smart meter is “on” and transmitting data less than one minute per day. Each transmission is just milliseconds (thousandths of seconds) in duration. Three of these “millisecond” signals involve sending data, and the others involve communicating with nearby devices to be sure the meter is connected to the network and available to send and receive messages. When not transmitting, the smart meters are in “idle” mode.

PMI uses barcode equipped handheld data collection devices in the field to capture pertinent installation details.  All data collected ranging from installation data, quality control data, and even photographs and gps coordinates are seamlessly collected and posted on a real time or near real time basis.