This 1993 photograph shows a National Water Commission meter reader inputting the readings manually into a hand-held computer from a meter as part of a new customer accounting system implemented in Kingston and St. Andrew. - File photoLavern D. Clarke, Builders Forum Co-ordinator
THERE WERE no glitches, notwithstanding the steep hill climb, narrow roads and near misses as vehicles manoeuvred the curves and cliffs that featured along the automatic meter reading test run.
As the National Water Commission's mini-van slowly climbed into the hills of St. Andrew, via Papine, a small portable computer secured to the front seat began picking up readings of water meters, assisted by an antenna anchored atop the vehicle.
The receiver hones in on the transmitters that are installed alongside the automated metres. If the system picks up a particular metre more than once, then the last reading automatically overrides the previous information.
The first reading was picked up in the vicinity of Jamaica College for a property located in the hills on Skyline Drive; the second reading popped up on the computer's screen near to Hope Gardens for another premises at Skyline Drive.
The test ride through Jacks Hills for the electronic sweep to read some 50 automated meters, took less than an hour and required no one leaving the air-conditioned vehicle.
ONE HOUR VS FOUR DAYS
The time really pleased Carline Senior, NWC technical services manager and project manager for the automated meter reading project that the Commission is now testing out. Manual readings usually take up to four days in that area, she told Builders Forum, because the terrain is wide and difficult to manoeuvre, and often some of the meters remain unread.
The test read forms part of a six-month pilot that runs to November that the American firm Neptune-Schlumberger is investing some $2m in to prove to the Commission that its electronic equipment can bring greater cost and operational efficiencies in tracking water usage.
Neptune provided the computer equipment and software, while Schlumberger provided 100 meters--each with a transmitter--half of which are installed in the other pilot community, Sydenham in St. Catherine, says Matthew Levy of Ian K (Agencies) Limited, Neptune/Schlumberger's agents here.
Two other overseas firms will also be given the same chance at six-month pilots, at their own expense, following which NWC will make a final decision whether to switch from manual readings to the AMR system.
There is little doubt that the Commission will be adopting an automated system; the only questions are which of the three pilot companies will be chosen to provide the service, and how to secure the meters and transmitters from vandals.
Part of the decision to be made is whether to privatise the meter reading service, giving the company selected a performance based contract to supply the equipment, do the readings and maintain the system; or have the company supply and install the meters while NWC retains its metre reading and inspection functions, according to Buchanan.
The AMR system will lower the high incidence of estimated bills, for which the Office of Utilities Regulation has been pushing. But the changeover will also displace the Commission's 90 meter readers islandwide. Some will be shifted to inspections, but corporate relations manager Charles Buchanan says it is likely that there will be some cuts.
METER READERS AT RISK
The project gels with other plans to automate the Commission's service with the aim of better customer service delivery. According to Mervin Kerr, manager of systems and development, the customer information system which has some 400,000 accounts listed, is being upgraded to make the system interactive.
The Commission will soon be generating bills online, and providing customers with real-time information on their consumption levels as well as history of water usage. It combines well with the AMR system which allows for the data to be "exported" to the NWC's database from the field seconds after a meter is read.
"Customers can get to manage themselves," Kerr told Builders Forum on a short tour of the technology department.
The Neptune equipment that the Commission is now testing has the capacity to read meters some 1,000 feet, or one-fifth of a mile away from the installed meter, but Senior says her team has picked up readings at even greater distances.
Simply driving by a townhouse complex or side road on the Jacks Hill test run was sufficient to read all meters installed there. There were no dogs to contend with, no need to scale fences, and no gated community to try and breach.
The system uses radio waves "which can bounce around corners", so no area is impenetrable. However, the signal falls within the 900-920 megahertz band, which is in the range of some cellular networks.
There was an incidence of interference with one cellular company's network, but that was sorted out in conjunction with the Spectrum Management Authority. Permission for installing the transmitters must be granted by the SMA.
Meantime, Levy says: "We're very happy with the technology. Everything has worked to plan."
