Bellmead, Texas represents a trend taking utilities across the country by storm: smart meters. The city selected Ameresco to modernize its water metering infrastructure.
Yost Zakhary, Bellmead City Manager, explained, “We are deeply invested in improving the day-to-day lives of our community members. Our partnership with Ameresco on this metering infrastructure improvement project is only the latest demonstration of our commitment to fostering a sustainable future that’s not only good for the environment, but for our citizens as well.”
The initiative includes replacing all 3.797 mechanical meters with smart meters, which will enable more accurate billing of consumer water usage and more efficiently manage its water distribution network by reducing technical and non-technical water losses. The projects expected completion is Spring 2022.
The system will automate billing, delivering citizens access to water usage data via web portal with the expectation of more pragmatic water usage, assisting the city in conserving the invaluable resource and saving people money.
Bob Georgeoff, executive vice president, Ameresco, noted, “Together, we’ll reduce the city’s overall operational costs and address its long-term meter reading operational needs.”
Depending on which study you read, the global smart meters market is projected at a bare minimum to surpass $25 billion by 2026. The spike in smarty projects is propelling prognosticators, but bigger than the bottom-line, communities are matriculating toward sustainability.
From gas and oil, to water and electricity, utilities gain advantage by leveraging modern technologies to better serve municipalities. Efficient, precise and reliable measurement and management can go along way in realizing the potential of the IoT and making the world a much “smarter” place.