City of Richmond: Progression Towards a Universally Deployed
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Solution
Corrine Haer, EIT, Project Engineer,
City of Richmond
Angela Zapp, P.Eng. MBA, Director – West Region,
Neptune Technology Group
Agenda
1. Overview of Water Meter Program
2. Drivers for AMI
3. System Architecture for Richmond
4. Phase I (Pilot) AMI Overview
5. Phase II AMI Overview
6. Software and Data Management
7. Case Studies – Supporting the Project Goals
Water Metering Programs
•
In 2004 the 1st year of a volunteer water metering
program kicked-off
•
In 2014, the City embarked on a five-year universal
metering program which will encompass all remaining
unmetered single family accounts.
•
Installation:
•
Water meters are installed outdoors in meter pits
•
Today over 25,000 Pit Installations complete
•
To date, Richmond has achieved an impressive
88% single family residential and 40% of multifamily meter installations.
Key Drivers for Advanced Technology
• Increasing Cost of Water & Infrastructure
•
•
•
Need for more information to support the high bills or justify
Provides information to assist with utility rate analysis
Provides flexibility for alternate billing schedules
• Help lower utility costs
•
•
Eliminates labour for manual or mobile reading
Off-cycle reads / finals
• System analytics and management
•
•
•
•
Pressure management
District metering
Leak management
Benchmarking and trending
Key Drivers for Advanced Technology
• Consumer engagement
•
•
•
Awareness of when/how consumers use water
More detailed data for customer service
Access to more information
•
•
•
Web portal
More knowledge of personal usage and ability to compare to others
Avenue to communicate other utility information – provide a greater understanding
of the entire water system.
Reading Technology Migration Pyramid
•
Walk-By (Probe or RF)
•
•
AMI
Up to
96 reads per
meter per day
Mobile AMR
•
•
Fixed Network
•
Hybrid – AMR/AMI
Up to 96 reads per meter
per day
•
Walk-By
AMR – Mobile RF 2,000-30,000
reads per day
Walk-by RF 1,000-2,000 reads per day
Walk-by Probe 175-450 reads / day
•
Enables cost effective monthly meter reading
Can provide flags for leaks, backflow and profile
data
Hybrid AMR/AMI:
•
•
Drive-By
Typically for quarterly meter reading
AMI:
•
•
•
•
•
Enables ability to migrate from AMR to AMI
Provides flexibility for large service areas – optimize
infrastructure and costs
Provides valuable AMI data for key accounts or high
density service areas
More flexibility to get reading data, less estimates,
efficient capture of unscheduled reads
Usage profiling – typically hourly or 15-minute
Enables analytics or superior customer service
Real-time priority alarming
Leaks, backflow, reverse flow, no flow
Deployment Considerations
•
•
•
•
AMR vs. AMI vs. migration strategy
Developing a solid business case
Process and change management requirements
Complete an IT strategy
• Hosting, integrations to billing and asset management etc.
• Develop a cross functional team to work in tandem
with vendors
Deployment Considerations
• Project Management
• Who is accountable for the end to end operation
• Project Plan
• Mass deployment vs. gradual
• Risk mitigation strategies
• Public education / communication plan
• Installation requirements
• Establish project metrics and deliverables around
Read success and system success rate
• Acceptance criteria
Infrastructure (AMI) Project – Overall Project Goals
•
Validating system features, benefits and coverage
•
Exploring fixed network technology as means of water
loss management.
•
This technology provides an opportunity to retrieve
timely information such as daily identification of leaks,
backflow, tamper/no flow detection.
•
Supports the City’s efforts in improving customer service
through proactive leak notification and real-time access
to data to support customer inquiries.
Infrastructure (AMI) Project – Phase I Pilot
•
Phase 1 Overview:
•
•
Installation of 5 Fixed Network Data Collectors
Study the feasibility of:
• Proactive customer service
• Water loss management
• Daily identification of flags
• Reduction of meter reading labour
• Mass system balance
• Determine causes of peak demand
• Validate system coverage
Infrastructure (AMI) Project – Phase II
•
Phase 2 Overview:
•
•
Augmentation of network with 5 additional Data Collectors
Goals:
•
Validate the original propagation study
•
Analysis of the system’s potential for
redundancy
•
Expansion of meter reading routes
•
Develop the model for a fully deployed
fixed network system
•
Update of goals from Phase 1 with the
augmented network
Current Hybrid Reading System Architecture
Potential future
Customer Web
Portal
Management and Maintenance of an AMI system
•
System service provider
• Data collector hardware maintenance
• System health monitoring
• Application maintenance, stability and upgrades
• Software hosting
How is it working?
•
•
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Case studies on customer service
• Leak credit request
• Approved
• Declined
• System wide leak detection
Consumption analysis
Pressure management analysis
System Wide Daily
Notification of Leak Events
System Wide Daily
Notification of Leak Events
•
•
•
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Average of 512 accounts with leaks detected by the AMI system in
February
Average leak per account: 0.091 m3 per hour (91 Litres/hour) or
an average leak wastes $0.21 per hour, per meter
512 accounts = 46.6 m3/hour wasted.
~$110 an hour OR $2,630 a day OR over $76,000 wasted in
February.
System Wide Analytics
AMI System
provides qualitative
insight to water
conservation
initiatives
Next Steps…..
Questions
Thank You!
For more information please contact:
Corrine Haer, EIT, Project Engineer,
City of Richmond
Email: [email protected]
Angela Zapp, Director – West Region
Neptune Technology Group
Email: [email protected]