PUNTA GORDA — With 9,143 still not reporting monthly water bills, the city of Punta Gorda is launching a pilot program to test new meter reading equipment.
In 2016, the city’s contracted with The Zenner Advanced Metering Infrastructure system. In time, the utilities department experienced faulty parts, which caused inaccurate readings.
After Hurricane Ian hit two years ago, the problem spread. Users didn’t receive bills. Then after four or five months, the accumulated bill was high for some.
Council members received complaints from resident who received estimated bills for hundreds of dollars.
Longtime resident Lilli Ritchie told City Council members she was billed $1,200 for a month’s usage and $780 for another month.
“I want a full refund,” she said, adding when she questioned the city about her bill they told her she needed to hire a leak detection company.
The city does offer a payment program to help those who has higher than usual bills.
Residents told the council the pilot program may be intrusive of homeowner’s privacy because the system needs Ring doorbell and Echo speakers technology to read the meters.
There are 25 meters that will be situated throughout Punta Gorda using the Amazon Sidewalk Network — a long-range wireless communication protocol for short distances.
Resident Jeri Julian said the Amazon Sidewalk Network is new and not proven for meter reading.
Referencing “Consumer Reports,” she said the unknowns on how long the network will run.
“When you use the Sidewalk network, you’re not just providing internet access for your own compatible devices, though, you’re providing internet access to anyone’s Sidewalk-enabled devices that are near your house and in range of your Ring cameras or Echo speakers,” she said. “Amazon is helping themselves to your network without asking permission.”
Another resident gave the council a detailed plan on how the company Badger Meter would come and install 100 meters and participate in a six-month pilot program.
The Badger meter reading systems capture water consumption and status data from water meters by walking or driving by with mobile reading software that collects data and synchronizes with software.
A representative with the Tampa-based company was in the audience but didn’t speak during public comment. He did talk to residents and some city staff. He said replacing all meters and adding the new software would cost several million dollars, but would solve long-term problems.
Because more than half of Punta Gorda water users are getting estimates on utility bills from the city, instead of accurate numbers read from their meters, the city hired three full-time hourly meter readers from Olameter at a cost of $51.25 per hour to the city.
The city plans to train and pay overtime to 10 in-house employees to read meters at night and on weekends. The city initially changed its meter reading system because it had a difficult time hiring meter readers who were paid less than minimum wage.
City Council member Melissa Lockhart asked for a monthly update on the meter reading situation.
Mayor Lynne Matthews agreed saying she residents are upset with estimated bills instead of true readings and higher bills.
City Council member Bill Dryburgh asked if residents can challenge their bill or get help with payments.
He was told an employee will go out to the home if the bill is unusually high and there’s no leaks.
The city will also do an engineering study to review the existing AMI system, and investigate alternatives. The study will run concurrently with the pilot program.
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