Presented by:

Lewis W. Adkins, Jr.Customer Service

Manager

 City of Richmond VirginiaAutomated Meter Reading

A Case Study

                                                               

City of Richmond

Service area includes City of Richmond, Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield Counties.

Richmond City population is 190,000 & service area population is 750,000. The service area covers 550 square miles.

110,000 gas and 65,000 water services

DPU’s gas utility is the 8th largest municipally owned gas utility in the country. The utility has 7 gate stations, more than 1800 miles of gas main lines, & 1250 water pipe lines.

Old infrastructure, some piping dating back to late 1800’s (civil war era)

BACKGROUND ON AMR

On table since 1988

Issued RFP in 1998

Signed 5 year Itron contract 11-99

Inherited small CIP budgetAdded funding to complete project over 5 yearsGas cost $10.5m & water cost $9.9m

First Ert’s installed February, 2000

Project Team

Lew Adkins----Project Manager

Preston Brown and Robert Travis----Project Team Associates

Responsibilities:

Develop and maintain project and budget plans Prepare/report on project and budgetary status Determine logical flow of areas to automate Coordinate from host/to host daily work loads and systems changes

with MIS Perform quantity/quality audits on contractors work Train internal users (field svc, meter shop, etc.) on ERT installation,

programming and other related issues Coordinate resolution of Automation Exceptions with Exceptions

processing, internal AMR team, and contractor Train meter reading on automating hard to read premises, including

changing out Hexagrams

Project Team Responsibilities-Cont’d

Assist with in-house training of contractors to ensure DOT operator qualifications, OSHA standards, and DPU internal gas/water procedures are adhered to

Generate and close s.o.’s for new sets and re-sets Review & trouble-shoot field svc s.o. closed in

Banner to ensure ERT’s are removed and/or “married” to premise correctly.

Issue P.O.’s and pay invoices for the purchase of ERT’s and all other automation equipment.

Receive and physically store all equipment shipments.

Perform weekly ERT inventory audits--warehouse and issues to contractor.

Project Phases (only utility in country automating gas & water

simultaneously)

Phase I:

2/2000 to 6/2001 Automate 50k ‘gas only’ customers in outlying counties

Gas less costly/easier to automate & had available funding to automate gas in counties

Time to experiment w/process on one svc before auto water (from host/to host; ert

installs; programming)

Automate hardest to read areas firstspread out walking routes30 meter readers for manual reads 4 daysdownsize staff quicker

Project Phases-cont’d

Phase II:

11/2000 to 9/2003 automate 60,000 gas in city (plus county

growth) & 65,000 water in City.

Includes com’l/industrial customers

Additional funds budgeted to complete project

Innovative Approaches to a Successful AMR Project

Visited Houston Water Project—what works, what doesn’t

Deter could purch new meters w/elec registers for

same price as purchasing registers only.

Learned about types of lids to use for radio freq reads.

Decision made to change all metersRepair leaks; replace inaccurate meters;enhance revenue

AMR Ready Water Meters

Water meter contract did not meet needs; also was expiring

21 contract employees on site—needed quick solution.

Going RFP route time consuming (idle resources)

Director/Purchasing appvd meter purchases as a ‘pass thru’ off

AMR contract until new water meter contract could be obtained.

Retrofitted, Potted & Programmed erts on meters

GAS:

Negotiated deal with meter mfg to install & program erts on meters for nominal

add’l charge.

WATER:

Experienced field install problems on initial stages

Developed process with AMR vendor to attach end cap to ert, torque antenna, &

ship unit to meter mfg. (no add’l cost)

Negotiated deal with meter mfg to pot cable and program erts. (nominal fee) 1st utility to initiate this process—saved time and eliminated errors

Other utilities have since ‘piggy backed’ off this process

Warehouse Overhead

Negotiated with whse and ops support to order, receive and store AMR parts/equip

Allowed us to financially and physically control

the purchasing process

Save 16% on warehouse overhead charges ($1,968,000) that would have been capitalized to the AMR project

Call Center/Notices

Set up contractor call center with dedicated phone linesWork 8 to 8 and Saturdays

Eliminated excess volume of AMR related calls to DPU call center

Reps schedule appt’s for meter changes & light ups & handle complaints & inquiries

Use door tags & neighborhood signs to notify customers of AMR activities.

Obtained approval from county administrators to use signs and notices.

Developed & obtained approval to use gas cut off letters for non responsive

Customers (response rate went to 95-100%)

Contractor Facilities

1st 1 ½ years was a space problem

Negotiated deal with Ops Support to split costs ($40k) to renovate

unused, dilapidated utility property

Allowed contractor to have adequate & secure working space for

personnel, trucks and equipment. (Shared locked, fenced in yard

with school buses)

Small investment to accommodate project allowed us to be contract compliant and increased value of unused property 3 fold.

Trained Field Units

Trained commercial meter techs, field service techs, & meter readers on installing &

programming erts.

Com’l meter techs automating com’l/industrial sitesExpertise on larger meters and shut down procedures Approx savings on gas, $114,000 Approx savings on water, $130,000

Field service automating growth—mostly in Outlying countiesApprox savings on gas thru 7-31-03, $156,000 Approx savings on water thru 7-31-03, $65,000

Meter readers automating hard to read and Hex sitesApprox savings on gas thru 7-31-03, $32,500

Pre-AMR had approx 2500 CGI’s/month. Currently 200, with eventually none.

MAMR Route Conversion

Initially, converted routes to MAMR reads when 80% saturated. (designated 00)

Eventually, converted each premise to MAMR route as automated. A number of hard to reads, & consistently

estimated accounts had been automated Meter readers failed to take appropriate

DCPN on routes. Created too many customer complaints.

Accelerated Project

5 year CIP had sufficient allocated funding Revised budget to ‘pull back’ funds allocated in

04-05 to 03-04 fiscal. Rec’d commitment letter from Itron to hire add’l

resources Adjusted productivity goals to complete project

by Sept 2003---11 months ahead of schedule.Get customers on board quickerImproves PRSaves $ on certain direct/indirect costsDownsize staff faster, reducing O & M costs

Beta Site

Served as a gas and water Beta Site for Itron

Tested 30 new com’l gas erts—savings $3,000

Tested 200 water sites for ‘bubble up’ frequency application—savings $25,000

Loss of Jobs due to Automation

Most of staff comprised of 21 part time readers

Arranged for several companies to screen and offer employment after AMR downsizing at DPU

Full time staff is currently 15, including office support

After full automation in October 2003, transitioning 5 staff to other field units to bolster existing programs or begin new programs. Pre AMR staff was 42

Post Project Negatives

MAMR Can’t Reads—Water Utility: Number downloaded = 61,786Number not read via MAMR read = 6,479 or 10.5% Causes:

--Bad installs--Lid gap/RF shift--ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)

created by failed integrated circuitspecific failure mechanism not identifiedextended warranty

--Metal lids--Weather (too much rain)--Damaged/vandalized ert’s (cut wires)--Ert out of slot (in mud)

Post Project Positives

GAS Utility:

Pre AMR, averaged 2500-3000 gas can’t reads per month

Currently, averaging about 200 per month. With full automation, will be less than 10 per

month. Reading MAMR gas at 99.9 % rate

Positives cont’d

Meter Reading Operations: Staff reduced from 42 to 11 O & M reduced from $1.5m to $500k annually Cost per read reduced from .68 to .24 Vehicles reduced from 40 to 12 Eliminated home/property intrusion to obtain

read Worker’s comp claims no longer an issue Cycles reduced from 21 to 19

Positives cont’d

AMR Maintenance: Forming team to maintain system Reduces current M.R. staff, which further

reduces O & M and cost per read Maintenance team relieves service order

work from Field Tech unit, freeing up their time to work more critical orders.

Also, will positively impact Field Service Unit annual OT

Positives cont’d

Position Upgrades:

Reclassifying current meter reader job status/duties

Rewards staff for acquiring new technological skills and knowledge.

Positives cont’d

Operating System:

Recently upgraded to MVRS from P2

System offers more opportunity to leverage AMR technology

Positives cont’d

Business Process Improvements:

Purchase MDC to leverage current AMR technology

Detect Theft of Service on ‘front-end’ to reduce losses

Utilize MDC for ‘Read for Change’ service orders, reducing 50 field tech’s work load and related costs, including OT

Summary of AMR Benefits

REDUCTIONS/MTR READING OPNS: IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE:STAFF-76% TIMELY AND ACCURATE BILLINGO & M -67% ELIMINATE ESTIMATED READSCOST PER READ-59% ELIMINATE HOME INTRUSIONCYCLES-10% CUSTOMER SELECTED BILL DATERE-READS FEWER CUSTOMER COMPLAINTSHUMAN ERROR REDUCED CALL CTR/WALK-INEXCEPTIONS VOLUME VOLUMEVEHICLES, GAS, MAINT. DEPR. ACCIDENTS/INJURIES WORKER’S COMP WORKING IN BAD WEATHER BILLING AND CASH FLOW:TIME OFF/LOST WAGES REDUCE READ TO BILL TIMEPERSONNEL ISSUES REDUCE BILLING ADJUSTMENTSOVERTIME ($210K TO $50K) REDUCE CONTESTED BILL DELAY

FEWER RE-BILLSREDUCED MAILING COSTSIMPROVED COLLECTIONS

BETTER RECEIVABLES MGMT

Summary of benefits cont’d

REVENUE PROTECTION: OFF CYCLE READS:REMAIN COMPETITIVE INDEREGULATED READ FOR CHANGEMARKET READ FOR THEFTCUST RETENTION AND ACQUISTION HIGH BILL CHECKSLOWER COST TO READ RE-READSTHEFT DETECTION/DETERRENT INVESTIGATIONSTAMPER DETECTION/DETERRENTUNACCOUNTED FOR WATER/GASREPLACE INACCURATE METERS ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT: LOWER WATER PRODUCTION COSTS REDUCED VEHICLE REDUCED CLAIMS AGAINST CITY EMISSIONS

WATER CONSERVATIONFIELD SERVICE:SHIFT AND IMPROVE LOAD MGMTIMPROVE RESOURCE MGMTREDUCE FIELD VISITSDOWNSIZE STAFFREDUCE OVERTIME