By Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje
April 27, 2009

Ann Arbor (MI) is a forward-thinking community that has taken positive steps to encourage water conservation efforts by our population. We believe that automation strategies that allow daily collection of meter reads and related data are crucial to successfully managing water resources as well as improving relationships with citizens. Ann Arbor deployed a fixed-network advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in 2004 to read most water meters twice daily and some more frequently. Previously, Ann Arbor took water meter readings quarterly.

The city uses these regular reads to help people understand how they are using water as they are using it. Before the city implemented automated meter reading, there was no easy way for citizens to understand how water usage might affect a bill. People living in Ann Arbor received bills quarterly, so there was little they could do to modify their usage patterns, and therefore billing amount, during a three-month cycle.

Today, Ann Arbor provides customers with real-time consumption readings online. Customers can log on to the city’s website at any time and gauge how much their bills will be at the end of the current cycle if their usage patterns remain the same. This type of feedback helps them to understand the effect that specific types of usage, such as lawn irrigation, have on a bill.

The technology used by the city, the Aclara STAR® Network system, also supports our cost-of-service rate structure. Cost-of-service rates are used by the city to encourage changes in peak usage patterns and to fairly distribute the costs for current as well as future expansion of water-distribution infrastructure. Today, residential customers in Ann Arbor are charged on an inclining rate structure, where costs increase in steps as more units of water are used. Customers pay the lowest rate for using one to seven units, with one unit equaling 748 gallons. The highest rate per unit is paid once a customer uses 45 units of water or more.

In the future, the city may create a residential rate structure that is based on peak demand information mined from the AMI system. This structure would be similar to the one that went into effect for commercial customers in July of 2008. Those whose average-day usage is more consistent might pay a lower overall rate than those whose have peak usage spikes, since water utilities must build infrastructure to service peak demand.

It is clear that to serve customers better, municipal water utilities must collect a lot of information related to the water system. Fixed-network AMI is a key driver in this process, allowing water utilities to collect water readings as needed, create detailed customer profiles, structure rate plans, and promote conservation efforts.

For more information about Ann Arbor’s fixed-network AMI system, contact Sue F. McCormick, Public Service Administrator, at 734-994-2897.

For more information on Aclara and the STAR Network system, contact Ike Moss, Vice-President of Municipal Sales, Aclara, at 216-896-8600, or visit the website www.Aclara.com.