Public Water Energy Efficiency Project (2011 LGAA)

Village of Frankfort (Winner)
County: Herkimer County
Population: Less than 5,000
Village Hall: (315) 895-7651

The Village of Frankfort is an economically distressed Mohawk Valley community whose utilities have been plagued by unidentified leakages, unauthorized users, and meter tampering. Studies by the water department indicated an estimated potable water loss of up to 40% was occurring throughout the Village. In an effort to control treatment, personnel costs, unlawful consumption, and to promote efficiency, the Village embarked on a Village-wide utility smart meter replacement project with 2009 CDBG funding.

This technology eliminates the need for Village personnel to manually collect meter information. The information is now transmitted via the Internet to a central location for billing and monitoring. The smart meters also permit the residential and commercial customer to monitor consumption in real time – allowing them to access their accounts, and watch their energy and water efficiency improvements in action. It will also reduce disputes over consumption, and identify uncontrolled leakages or potentially unlawful consumption, as both can be monitored with this new system. Most importantly, this system was installed at NO additional cost to the Village's residents and businesses. The technology comes with tremendous support and training from the manufacturer and requires minimal technical knowledge to install.

The Smart Meter Program has made key improvements to service delivery and was installed at no cost to taxpayers. Billing and dispute resolutions will be addressed in less time as all historical usage information is available by clicking on the specific account. In addition, monthly in-home meter readings are no longer necessary. Consumer interaction is also improved and encouraged to promote consumption efficiency. Finally, with this technology unlawful meter tampering, as well as uncontrolled leakages, can be more easily detected and will help the Village address the nearly 40% potable water volume losses annually.

In addition to service delivery benefits, this program improves system efficiency as more information is collected using less paper. Employees are no longer required to spend two days per month reading meters, saving 380 hours annually. Billing resolutions are most efficient with an estimated time savings of up to 10% as information is more accessible.