"FLY ME TO THE MOON" frank sinatra

Lost in all the discussion on what we owe AMP-OHIO whatever that amount will end up being. 2.7 million seems to be a well found number.
At the same presentation our City Manager proposed Automated Meter Reading. Rather then me trying to explain it lets take the minutes from that meeting and have her explain it to us.

Ms. McMahon then made a presentation on automated meter reading (AMR). She explained that
meter reading is being done through electronic transmission. The City updated the electronic version in
1985/1986 and we have not updated since that time.
Ms. McMahon explained the AMR Business Drivers. There is a cost reduction. The operational
savings will be a reduction in labor, materials and energy supply. There are currently 4 meter readers.
There will also be reduced capital expenses in water and network assets and the IT for AMR are more cost
effective. This will increase customer satisfaction because there will be no more estimates and it will allow
customers to monitor their own usage. AMR provides improved metering, billing and collection. There
will be more accurate measurements for water and electric. Eliminating estimates will reduce revenue loss
and improved cash flow. AMR will also help with any EPA compliance monitoring issues in the future.
Safety issues will be reduced such as dog bites and environment standards will be met. Ms. McMahon
informed Council of the other public power Ohio communities that have successfully implemented the
AMR Program; Hamilton, Bowling Green, and Wadsworth.
Ms. McMahon stated the key benefits include the elimination of manual meter reading labor and
overhead, significant reduction in field visits for move in/out and collection activities, revenue increases
from removal of slow electric and water meters and customer drive electric load management. There will
be an elimination of re-read and duplication of efforts and there will be remove service connections with
reduced opportunity for error. The customer will be able to get a digital read out of their consumption and
monitor how much they are using then they can determine what is the optimal temperature for them.
The current status of the meter system includes 12,000 electric meter and 10,200 water meters.
They meter are read every month. The fixed cost is $500,000 to read meters. There is no load control
software deployment, no outage detection software deployment and no solid state advanced meters for
future time-of-use rates (Smart Grid). The cost estimate is between $4.2 – 6 million. This is to replace all
the meters and install the technology for a signal-to-wireless network stored on a computer. The ten year
operating savings will be $5 million. This is a ballpark number from a cost-benefit analysis. Costs of the
project can be decreased through grant funding.
The next steps are to proceed with the AMR RFP development and take in the responses to
establish more specific pricing. A two-year capital cost analysis will be done. Ms. McMahon thought it
would take about 18 months to deploy the system. A presentation of data will be made to Council to
determine if we proceed. Then we research funding option, select a vendor and deploy.
Ms. McMahon stated of the next 18 months, if Council is interested in pursuing Automatic Meter
Reading, the City will proceed with the RFP.

Now my question where will the 6 million dollars come from to pay for these new meters?[Power Factor?] What will happen to the meter readers, along with costing the city $500,000 for these four meter readers? Will this system include American made hardware? Who in the city has the expertise to implement this system and what will that cost? In a city where most streets remind people of Beirut, what's in this for who?