Milford to Begin Smart Meter Installations
The City of Milford, Delaware, in partnership with Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC), and American Municipal Power, Inc (AMP), will begin installing new smart meters on all electric and water service connections served by the City.
The $2.4 million project is funded through the water, sewer and electric reserve funds and there will be no additional cost to the customer.
City of Milford’s Smart Meter Project quick facts
• More efficient water and electric meter reading;
• Organisational efficiencies;
• Reduced operating costs;
• Customer portal with up-to-date utility usage information (coming soon!);
• Increased opportunities for leak detection – reduced waste;
• Outage management improvements – increased reliability;
• Greater in-field operation capabilities;
The existing meter reading equipment is obsolete and needs to be upgraded. In facing the upgrade, it made sense for the City to move toward Smart Meter technology, with use allowing for real-time reading of meters.
Obtaining up-to-date technology will also provide a better understanding of water and electric usage citywide. Additionally, the new technology will ensure services are reliably provided to customers, ensure potential problems are addressed quickly and efficiently, and reduce costs for both the City and customers.
Electric smart meters allow the City to be better informed of outages, which leads to a quicker response and restoration time.
Also, because of real time usage tracking, the City is better able to understand peak times and increased demand on the grid.
Being better informed allows the City to notify users and ask that usage is cut back during those peak times. This increases grid reliability and lessens the need to produce more electricity, which can be costly.
Water smart meters allow the City to remotely read meters, thus increasing the efficiency of processing readings and billing.
Real-time usage tracking allows for better leak detection and understanding of usage habits and how a consumer can reduce their costs. Reducing the occurrence of leaks and unnecessary consumption helps to lower water production costs and strains on the system.
All meters should be changed out by the end of August 2018.
In an effort to increase efficiency, the City of Milford has contracted NexgenUSA, who is already trained and proficient in the installation of the meters.
Nexgen USA employees will be driving clearly marked trucks and have a City of Milford identification card on their person while working within the city.
Click here for more information and to schedule your installation.