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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