ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE

Overview and Benefits

Missouri American Water is upgrading our water meter system in St. Louis County as part of our efforts to continually improve our water system.

Starting in June 2016, we will begin to transition from a manual water meter reading process to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system.  We will be installing new AMI reading devices on St. Louis County water meters over the next five years. These new devices use radio signals to wirelessly transmit water usage information over a dedicated communication channel, eliminating the need for manual meter reading. This new technology offers great potential customer benefits as well, including automatic bill pay and budget billing.  

Accurate and efficient, this smart meter upgrade:

• Lays the groundwork for better information about water usage patterns across the County. The information will help enhance our ability to engineer and update our water system.  Ultimately, data will become available to customers to help improve their ability to manage their water usage.
• Sustains and enhances our ability to accurately measure water usage, regardless of weather conditions.
• Operates more efficiently, eliminating the need to visit more than 340,000 homes and businesses to read meters.
• Taking vehicles off the road helps reduce our community’s carbon footprint.

The AMI system uses a small radio device to periodically transmit low-power radio signals from the water meters to receivers mounted on water tanks or utility poles.

The AMI system is working well in several cities across the U.S., and we are looking forward to installing this technology across St. Louis County.  When the system is fully installed, our goal is to make the water usage information generated by this AMI technology available to help customers manage their water usage.

There is no direct charge to customers for this water meter upgrade.

The AMI upgrade process

The initial implementation of the program will begin in summer 2016. We will continue the installation process across St. Louis County over the next five years.  We will send letters to customers prior to the meter upgrades.

The installation process takes about an hour and your home water service will not be interrupted.  Our crews and our contractor partners will install these meter upgrades.  Crews from Civil Design Inc. (CDI), our installation contractor, will have Missouri American Water badges and logos on their trucks.  They will leave a doorhanger when the job is complete.

If your home has an indoor water meter.  You will receive a letter from us asking you to call our AMI Customer Service Center to schedule an appointment for your meter upgrade. Indoor meters are typically located in basements and our contractor will need access to your home to complete the work.

We are offering a wide range of appointment times, with time slots available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, and Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  It’s important to schedule your appointments promptly. This range of time options will help you schedule a time that works for your household. The Civil Design Inc. (CDI) crew member will complete the upgrade in about an hour.

If your home has an outdoor water meter.  Customers with outdoor water meters will also receive a letter prior to the meter upgrade. You will not need to set an appointment. The Civil Design Inc. (CDI) crew member will knock on the door to let you know that the work is beginning. If no one answers, they will complete the upgrade and leave a doorhanger. The outdoor meter is located in a box, so there will be very little disruption to your yard.

If your meter is scheduled for replacement. Missouri American Water also has an ongoing program to replace residential water meters every fifteen years.  As we replace these old meters with new ones, we will also add AMI devices.  Customers with indoor water meters scheduled for replacement also receive letters from Missouri American Water asking them to set an appointment time for the replacement process.  Missouri American Water crews are available to do this work from 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

When the installation is complete

You will not notice any changes to your water service once the installation is complete.

We will contact some customers by phone to check your satisfaction with the process.  Our goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible for our customers.

If you have questions about the AMI system, please see our AMI FAQs or email our project team at stlmeterupgrade@amwater.com.   You may also contact the Missouri American Water Customer Service Center at 866-430-0820. Customer Service Representatives are available from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. to answer your questions.