North Miami Beach Water serves over 170,000 water customers in Northern Miami-Dade County. |
With the AMI solution, North Miami Beach is able to enhance customer service, protect revenue, forecast consumption, analyze flow and support district metering by leveraging detailed consumption and meter alerts collected by an analytics application. Later this year, the utility’s customers will have access to detailed consumption information through a secure customer web portal so they can better manage their usage, conserve water and save money. The portal will allow customers to establish their own water use goals and set customized alerts to notify them when they have reached a certain consumption threshold. This promotes consumer awareness of water consumption to aid in conservation efforts.
“Our goal is to drive down costs for the utility and our customers, and reduce the amount of water we produce,” said Ana M. Garcia, city manager for the city of North Miami Beach.
North Miami Beach has already been able to view data from some customer accounts, identifying continuous consumption, which is an indication of a potential customer-side leak of which the customer is most likely unware. With this information, the city has been able to proactively engage with citizens regarding excess consumption before sending out a bill. Customer service outreach has become more proactive, and customers are happy to be alerted that maintenance and other actions can be taken to repair leaks, saving them money in the long run.
With the system’s 11,000 leak sensors installed, the city is now being alerted to leak sounds throughout its distribution system and, following investigation, it has already been able to identify and repair 23 leaks. These leaks are estimated to recover 27 million gallons of water per year, saving North Miami Beach $38,000 annually. In addition to saving money by recovering lost water revenues, the city of North Miami Beach is also recognizing savings from the elimination of physical surveying, minimization of damages caused by unrepaired leaks, and prioritization of utility resources as a result of system automation.