Birmingham Water Works Considers $120 Million for Automated Meters; Will Replace All Meters Read by Hand

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times Birmingham Water Works’s executive committee met last week to consider spending $120 million for automated meters that will replace meters being read by hand. The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) System is designed to automatically read customer meters and measure water consumption which will lead to accurately billing customers for water consumed, according to BWW. The move comes after some frustrated residents faced missed bills and bills significantly higher than usual as a result of mass estimations. Water systems in the metro area that have already installed self-reading smart meters say they are the most effective way to improve accuracy and reduce cost. Installing AMI would benefit BWWB customers by raising the percentage of accurate bills to nearly 100 percent and enhancing the utility’s ability to detect leaks, BWW officials say. Tereshia Huffman, chair of the Birmingham Water Works Board. (Provided) “Our Advanced Metering Infrastructure initiative enables us to eventually move away from the traditional manual meter reading process,” said Tereshia Huffman, chair of the Birmingham Water Works Board. “Above all else, this new system will be more efficient and manageable while improving the customer experience overall.” Managers have said it could be a...