It's me!
Below is what I read at the last NSCUDD meeting.
"I enjoyed talking to the people from Neptune, Jacobs and Village community watch at government day about meter reading possibilities for use by NSCUDD using the new AMR readers that we will shortly be installing for our customers. The following are my observations from those discussions.
Jacobs felt that one of the most important improvements to meter reading would be to increase the frequency of reads to help with quicker detection of leaks and also the quick re-reading of these new meters that sometimes fail to be read. Jacobs would only need to check the meter if the re-read failed.
Neptune seemed to imply that their software could be used for quick detection of leaks if more reads were taken and that their software could handle many reads and then send the correct meter reading data to Village utility billing system. Their software has many features that can help to analyze the data collected from the meters.
The head of community watch seemed pleased to hear about the possibility of meter reading and seemed interested in adding services that his organization could provide to the community if they received some compensation as his budgets are tight. They currently pass by every Village house twice in a 24 hour period. So, he was initially receptive to this idea of using community watch vehicles to read meters.
With these things in mind, I would propose that all three of the above plus additional people that staff might suggest be invited to a special NSCUDD workshop early next year to discuss how we can best serve our customers interests by maybe increasing the reading frequency of the new meters to be installed in our areas of operation.
I could now give suggestions on the possibilities that I see but would rather wait to have all board members hear the same messages from these experts and verifying what I heard from them before proceeding with my suggestions. Please, let’s not wait 2 or more years to have this discussion to improve our service to our customers."
Even though we are installing new meters for NSCUDD customers costing over 20 million, staff still wants the meters to be read once a month for the next few years. I believe we should consider many options and change the meter reading frequency sooner rather that wait two or more years.
Rick
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