To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Utilities Director
Title
Update: Customer Driven Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Pilot Testing
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The purpose of this memorandum is to update Town Council on a pilot testing project that started in November 2015 and will be ramping up in February of 2016. Castle Rock Water has been helping a private company develop a product specifically designed to give Castle Rock Water customers more information about and control over their water use. In technical terms this is called Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) as opposed to Automatic Meter Reading which is what the Utility currently uses.
One of the key strategic tactics from Utilities’ Strategic Plan was to “make decisions on implementation of advanced metering infrastructure.” Evaluating the use of Advanced Metering Infrastructure to make our customers more efficient in their water use was also a key recommendation in the Water Efficiency Master Plan approved in July of 2015.
To that end, Utilities performed an evaluation of the costs and the pros and cons of a “Utility” driven (meaning the Utility purchases and installs AMI meters on all services) AMI solution. The rough costs from this evaluation came back at $6 million to $8 million to retrofit our entire metering system. Given the other priorities that the Utilities team has, this was deemed cost prohibitive at this time.
During completion of the AMI evaluation, Castle Rock Water started working with a Denver based company that builds irrigation controllers. The idea was to develop a “Customer” driven solution to AMI. In other words, a solution that a customer would pay for and could choose to have installed or choose not to have installed. Great progress has been made with two test units installed on customer services in November of 2015. The test devices basically allow customers to turn off their water remotely, monitor water usage verse their water budget, receive text alerts for unusual water flows that may indicate leaks, and a host of other functions related to their water accounts from their smart phone.
The pilot testing will continue in three phases with Phase 1, including up to five internal customers starting in February. Phase 2 will start in May and expand the number of customers up to 100 representing a broad base of customer types, locations and conditions. We will likely recruit customers on a first come first served basis and require an application process for them to participate. A Pilot Test Agreement has been prepared for execution with the company which also includes a customer agreement that will be signed between the Utilities Department and the Customer. A draft of this agreement is attached as Attachment A. Phase 3 of the pilot test will take us through October, and include a full evaluation of the product and findings. At the end of the pilot testing, Castle Rock Water and the company will consider entering into a public / private agreement to make the devices available to the entire customer base. The fee schedule for this “value added” service has not yet been developed, but a proposed schedule will be developed in conjunction with the pilot testing.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
Staff presented the high level aspects of this Pilot Testing Agreement to the Utilities Commission in January 2016. Utilities Commission was supportive of continuing with the pilot testing.
Budget Impact
The private company is paying all costs associated with the pilot testing except for internal labor support by Utilities staff to do things like provide feedback on the device, provide information and analysis of results and billing information, give input on the most important types of functionality, and offer administrative support.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends continuing with the pilot testing.
Attachments
Attachment A: Customer Pilot Test Agreement
Attachment B: Rachio Service Agreement