“These meter transmission units take the readings off the actual water meter, and that data is transferred to the city,” said Scott Tadych, public works director. “Now that first batch of MTUs (meter transmission units) is ending their useful life and have having to be replaced in mass.”
City employees along with Grid One Solutions have been replacing the units for about three to four years. The total cost for the project is about $1 million. Of the original 21,000, approximately 6,400 still need to be replaced, he said.
And some of those are not currently transmitting. Tadych estimated about 1,500 units are not transmitting at all, meaning water bills are being estimated.
“The customer’s bill is estimated as long at that unit is not working, and that can cause issues,” Tadych said. “The meter is still working, we are just not getting the reading. So what happens sometimes if the bill is estimated low or if if there is a leak that you are not aware of and all of a sudden that unit gets updated, it is back filling or reading what it should have been, and in some cases, we are seeing customers getting very high bills.”
Customers who have units that are not working are being notified by letter or a door hanger on the house.
“All the ones that are not working now, those people should have been notified,” he said. “But it is hard to schedule with folks sometimes who are working,” Tadych said. Some just may not see the letter. “The MTUs are inside the house. We have to get in in most cases.”
The units are gray boxes in the basement that many may not notice or be aware of. A wire runs to the meter, and the data is transmitted back to the city.
There is no cost for the battery replacement, and it takes about 30 minutes.
“We are kind of at the end of the process,” he said.
In February alone more than 500 were replaced.
“If all goes well, by the end of the year we will be done,” the public service director said.
He estimated the life of the replacement batteries is 15 years.
People with questions or who would like to schedule for the battery to be changed can call 513-425-7870.
“This is a great thing for the citizens of Middletown,” said City Manager Paul Lolli. “This system can detect if there is a water leak and isolate where it is.”
He said paying attention to “public works and utilities is important because people want three things, they want to be able to drink water, they want to be able to take a shower and they want to be able to go to the bathroom.”
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