Summary
Looking to upgrade the community’s aging water and sewer meter infrastructure, the City of Bellmead, TX partnered with Ameresco to implement a water meter modernization project. Upgrades included utility metering and data acquisition improvements and the installation of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system to allow for wireless reading of the water meter data. The AMI system provides automation in the billing system, reduces billing errors, and lowers the City staff’s workload.
“We are deeply invested in improving the day-to-day lives of our community members. Our partnership with Ameresco on this metering infrastructure improvement project is only the latest demonstration of our commitment to fostering a sustainable future that’s not only good for the environment, but for our citizens as well.”
– Yost Zakhary
Bellmead City Manager
3,800+
Water Meters Replaced
~$52,000
Annual Revenue Recapture
~$83,000
Annual O&M Savings
~$2,800,000
Project Size
Customer Benefits
By integrating the meter consumption data provided by the AMI meters into a WaterSmart customer portal, the City’s customers have transparent access to consumption information, leak detection, high usage alerts, historical patterns, and bill predictions all using a web portal or mobile device. Additionally, the AMI smart water meters help conserve and ensure a better water future while providing a robust foundation for strong collaboration with the City’s customers. Additional benefits include:
- Modernizing aging infrastructure
- Providing customers with direct access to their water usage data
- Enhancing the ability of the City of Bellmead to quickly detect and stop leaks
- Reducing loss and unaccounted for water within the City
- Enabling water conservation efforts via up-to-date water usage data
Solution
Ameresco performed an Investment Grade Audit of the City of Bellmead’s owned and operated water and sewer metering infrastructure to identify potential utility improvement measures that would upgrade or restore degraded water meter accuracy, increase revenue potential and reduce operational cost. The project included:
- Installation of a new AMI system to allow for wireless reading of the water meter data
- Replacement or conversion of 3,800+ water meters
