RALEIGH, NC, JULY 27, 2018 -- Eagle Mountain is a rapidly growing city in Utah with a population of 37,000 who enjoy picturesque views and abundant outdoor activities. To support the population boom, the city's utility is upgrading its water meters and mobile metering reading solution at its own flexible pace.
"We wanted to install a new communications system that would help us enhance efficiency and accuracy," said Eagle Mountain Public Utilities Manager Mack Straw. "To support our expanding customer base, we decided it was time to upgrade and bring our meters together under one solution."
Eagle Mountain turned to Sensus, a Xylem brand, for a simple cost-effective way to continue drive-by automated meter reads for both Sensus SmartPoints as well as encoder receiver transmitters (ERTS). To achieve greater accuracy and reduce truck rolls, the city is using the new Sensus FlexNet EasyLink™ Mobile Communications solution, which allows technicians to easily acquire data from meters through a portable, long-range radio device. Data is gathered through a single mobile reading device that collects data from both FlexNet SmartPoints and ERTS simultaneously.
"We were immediately impressed with the high transmission power and accuracy of the FlexNet EasyLink solution," said Straw. "Our technicians could get reads from a long range and track meter status with a detailed map view across each division to ensure reliability."
With the ability to improve read rates and reduce the time commitment involved with the previous meter reading solution, Straw and his team envision improvements that extend to customers.
"We can now complete work in one day that used to take two days," said Straw. "With the time saved, our technicians can devote more time to serving our customers, monitoring usage data and pinpointing potential issues such as water leaks."
Eagle Mountain was so satisfied with the solution that it began a full deployment before the initial testing was completed. Along with using the FlexNet EasyLink system across all of its water meters, the utility is implementing a meter replacement program with Sensus iPERL® residential and OMNI™ commercial smart water meters.
"It was an easy decision for us knowing that Sensus would have our back along the way," said Straw. "While we're jumping in with both feet, the Sensus solution allows us to roll things out in a way that is fiscally responsible and makes sense to our customers."
