By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Meter reading continues to be an issue for the City of Great Bend when it comes to calculating customers’ water bills. Misreads and failure to read meters have caused customer dissatisfaction and frustration. City Administrator Kendal Francis said part of the issue with the inaccurate meter reads stems from insufficient staff and employees that did not work out for various reasons.
Workers are required to physically inspect each residential or commercial meter and the process has resulted in a high turnover rate.
Francis said an Automated
Meter Reading (AMR) system could greatly improve the process for both the customer and city.
"As meters get older, the reads are less accurate, they slow down," said Francis. "This would be wholesale replacement of those meters. We would look at additional revenues by the efficiencies it would gain within our utility billing department."
The AMR system sends meter readings via radio waves to a collector and computer
system mounted in a vehicle. By driving around, the entire city could be read
in less than one day with no estimations.
When the city began discussions of the AMR system a year ago, the price was
estimated at $2.2 million.
While Great Bend has American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
funds that could help pay for the project, the city would still be looking at a
loan through the Kansas Public Water Supply. Great Bend City Council member
Jolene Biggs wasn’t keen on borrowing more money at the moment.
"We have the water line project we're still paying for," said Biggs. "We have the police station to build. You can only do so much. This would again borrow money, and I think we need to be fiscally responsible."
The project would purchase and install approximately 6,100 commercial and
residential water meters with AMR technology.
To get an updated cost, the city will open the project for bids June 28.