Wisconsin Water Utilities Adding Value With Advanced Metering Infrastructure
Utility Director for the City of River Falls Municipal Utilities. This includes not only basic usage information, but “alerts for identification of potential leaks and
As the son-in-law of a meter reader, I have heard the old war stories: aggressive dogs, interesting lawn décor, and uncooperative homeowners. As with everything in life, the steady march of technology has changed how many (though not all) water utilities read meters and – for better or worse – the types of stories told. The late 20th century saw the rise of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), which allows utilities to remotely collect meter data. AMR reduces labor costs from physical reads, but typically still requires a utility employee to walk or drive down the street to collect data from the AMR meters via radio waves. The new millennium saw the first large-scale adoption of another technology: Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). AMI differs from its predecessor in its improved ability to passively collect frequent and accurate water usage data, often on an hourly basis. The technology “is a collection of devices and systems used by utilities to collect, measure, communicate, and analyze water use data from treatment through delivery to customers.” 1 AMI further enables two-way communication between utilities and customers allowing both the utility and its customers access to near real-time usage data. The benefits of using AMI are manifold and recent legislation supported by the League has made it easier than ever to implement AMI by eliminating the need for construction authorization from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. However, a highly unscientific sampling of Wisconsin water utility annual reports 2 shows that only a little over a quarter of Wisconsin utilities have started implementing or fully implemented AMI. Over half of utilities have AMR and 17% of the sampled utilities were still manually reading meters. So, for those communities that aren’t yet on the AMI bandwagon, this article shares the perspectives of your utility colleagues on why they made the upgrade. Customer Benefits of AMI “AMI metering is all about connecting the customer to their usage of water from their water utility,” said Kevin Westhuis,
running toilets, usage pattern information, budgeting purposes, and much more.” In implementing its AMI program, River Falls Municipal Utilities “reminded the customers that this technology is for them. Yes, the utility will also have more data about usage trends and system data, but ultimately there are huge benefits to the end user.” With “real-time water consumptive data,” replied Krishna Kumar, General Manager at Madison Water Utility, utilities are able “to detect potential water leaks early, preventing high water bills and easily avoidable water waste.” A common refrain among utilities that have adopted AMI is that property owners whose leaks otherwise may have gone undetected for days – or longer – are highly appreciative of this feature. While a utility can alert customers of unusual usage, with AMI a utility does not have to be the gatekeeper for a customer’s data. AMI online portals give all customers who sign up the ability to monitor their individual usage as well. 3 Brian Powell, General Manager of Green Bay Water, reports that large customers are the most frequent users of online portals and have used the water data for internal planning, including by tweaking processes and evaluating electrical costs, saving water and money.
The Municipality - October 2025 | 4
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