Elster AMCO Water, Inc., part of Elster Group, a world leader in advanced metering infrastructure, integrated metering and utilization solutions to the gas, electricity and water industries has announced that Dare County, N.C., is performing a pilot study on 290 of the county’s 18,000 water meters with evolutionTM AMI, a comprehensive advanced metering solution for the water industry. The pilot study will take place over 12 months beginning in June 2008.
Dare County selected Elster AMCO Water’s evolution AMI because it is a complete end-to-end water AMI solution specifically designed for water utilities.
A large, environmentally conscious utility located on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Dare County was seeking a metering solution that would help the county achieve improved meter efficiency through remote monitoring of leaks and billing management.
“After reviewing other systems, we chose evolution AMI because of its intelligent two-way communication-based system and enhanced features that will allow us to remotely decrease water pressure in the event water conservation is required or shut off meters without having to deploy field personnel,” explained Ken Flatt, Dare County’s utilities
director. “We will also be able to generate customer data on our customer’s water usage with evoTrak, the evolution in-home user displays that provide a real-time picture of our customer’s water consumption,” .evolution AMI will also benefit Dare County during emergency situations such as hurricanes, which may present the need to remotely shut off meters to houses endangered by hurricane storm surges.
“Advanced metering solutions and efficient water management are essential to water utilities and the customers they serve,” explained Roman Thomassin, president of Elster AMCO Water. “Utilities such as Dare County are demanding water metering solutions that are highly accurate and technologically advanced to intelligently use and efficiently manage their water resources, and Elster AMCO Water is meeting that demand with evolution AMI.”
Dare County will install the evolution system solution and utilize many of its features including time-based rates, in-home displays, remote valve actuation, and real-time notification of leaks, tampering and backflow, all of which will help Dare County achieve operational efficiency and manage and conserve water resources.
“The evolution AMI solution is revolutionary to the water industry because it provides the technology necessary for intelligent water resource management,” explained Flatt. “We will be better able to understand our peak demand periods, allowing us to better manage our distribution network and push back the need for production capital improvements to meet the ever increasing water demands during high consumption periods. The system will also reduce our costs by remotely monitoring leaks and managing our billing systems.
“A successful pilot study will greatly assist us in securing the funding to replace our remaining water meters for our remaining customers. We will be rolling out the evolution system to all of our water utility customers on Roanoke Island next month,” Flatt said. “And we expect to see immediate results.”
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