[Tvflguy]

Per the other news source….


140,000 meters to be changed out in $30 million modernization effort.

More than 140,000 meters will be changed out over the next four years as part of a $30 million modernization effort in The Villages.

“There are a significant amount of efficiencies to be gained, in addition to improved accuracy,” said Assistant District Manager Brittany Wilson.

Homeowners will receive advance notification prior to the change out of the meters, one for water and the other for irrigation. Resident don’t have to be home and seasonal residents won’t be inconvenienced. There will be a disruption in power.

Earlier this year, the North Sumter County Utility Dependent District voted to proceed with the automatic meter reading technology in a dramatic technological leap forward in the reading of water meters in the bulk of The Villages.
NSCUDD will be working with longtime partner Jacobs in the implementation of the technology.

For years, meter readers have driven around in the familiar blue Jacobs golf carts using wand-touch technology to manually read meters at each and every home. The new drive-by technology will use a panel on a vehicle that would travel through neighborhoods and automatically read meters.

“It’s significantly more advanced than what we are using today. It’s 85 percent faster,” said Assistant District Manager Bruce Brown.

South of State Road 44, the Developer has already invested in automatic meter reading technology that is compatible with the system chosen by NSCUDD.

[Rainger99]

We had this up north in a 65 year old house. We bought new here in 2021 and I was surprised that the Villages did not have it on new builds.

[Arctic Fox]

Originally Posted by Tvflguy

Homeowners will receive advance notification prior to the change out of the meters, one for water and the other for irrigation. Resident don’t have to be home and seasonal residents won’t be inconvenienced. There will be a disruption in power.

Why will there be a disruption in power? Are the meters to be connected to my electricity supply? I assumed that they would be battery-powered.

[twoplanekid]

" The new drive-by technology will use a panel on a vehicle that would travel through neighborhoods and automatically read meters."

As I am on the NSCUDD board, I would mention that staff and the board are looking at the best way to read the new meters. To help lower costs and reduce street traffic, the readers might be placed in Jacob trash trucks or community watch vehicles to automatically read the meters as they travel our streets.

And, it's my understanding that the batteries in the new meters will last as long as the meter for both to be replaced at the same time.

[FloridaGuy66]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

We had this up north in a 65 year old house. We bought new here in 2021 and I was surprised that the Villages did not have it on new builds.

Same here. Our TV home was also built in 2021. I found it strange to be seeing the meter reader people in golf carts running around when our "up north" home had our meter replaced well over 10 years ago with one that can be read remotely by the utility.

The one good thing I remember when they replaced ours was that we were only out of power for less than 5 mins, so the disruption was very minimal.

[Bill14564]

Again, why would anyone lose power when replacing a water meter that is not connected to any power at all ?

[FloridaGuy66]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Again, why would anyone lose power when replacing a water meter that is not connected to any power at all ?

Sorry I misread. I assumed that it meant the electrical meters.

Still seems like an antiquated solution to have the meters read by vehicles driving nearby. Cellular technology is just so much simpler and surely cheaper long term.

[Tvflguy]

IMO this will be one of the slimiest yuckiest cruddyist smelliest dirtyist jobs . I have needed to go into our irrigation and water meter boxes the last few years.

They are filled with water after rains. There is grass and weeds all around the access cover.
Who knows what crawly creepy things live in there.

The deinstall/install process of the meters will not be a fun job by any means.

[CarlR33]

Yes, I was shocked to see the meter reader on a golf cart recently after moving here. I would have thought this had been modernized by now.

[JGibson]

So will are water be cheaper now or more expensive to pay for the installation.

[Sandy and Ed]

[QUOTE=FloridaGuy66;2368682]Sorry I misread. I assumed that it meant the electrical meters.

Still seems like an antiquated solution to have the meters read by vehicles driving nearby. Cellular technology is just so much simpler and surely cheaper long term.[/QUOTE

///////

[DrHitch]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

Why will there be a disruption in power?

This thread is all about the WATER meters....yes, there is a separate discussion about the upgrade of the electric meters to Wi-Fi?

[Rocksnap]

Originally Posted by FloridaGuy66

Sorry I misread. I assumed that it meant the electrical meters.

Still seems like an antiquated solution to have the meters read by vehicles driving nearby. Cellular technology is just so much simpler and surely cheaper long term.

Cellular technology would need LOTS of power. The technology they are using, not so much. You just need to be close to the meter to catch the signal.
Think Bluetooth vs cellular.

[Rocksnap]

Originally Posted by JGibson

So will are water be cheaper now or more expensive to pay for the installation.

Yes.

[biker1]

From the OPs post, it sounds like they have decided on an AMR based system instead of an AMI based system. If this is indeed true, any thoughts on why they chose AMR? If cost was the primary issue driving the decision, any idea how much of a difference there was?

Originally Posted by twoplanekid

" The new drive-by technology will use a panel on a vehicle that would travel through neighborhoods and automatically read meters."

As I am on the NSCUDD board, I would mention that staff and the board are looking at the best way to read the new meters. To help lower costs and reduce street traffic, the readers might be placed in Jacob trash trucks or community watch vehicles to automatically read the meters as they travel our streets.

And, it's my understanding that the batteries in the new meters will last as long as the meter for both to be replaced at the same time.