FAIRMONT– Starting in October, the city of Fairmont will be going through AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure), in which all electric and water meters in households throughout the city will be changed out.

City Engineer, Troy Nemmers, said that the water meters are at least 10 years old and maybe 15 to 20 years old in some cases so they need to be replaced. The electric meters aren’t in as dire need of replacement, but Nemmers said the system that they’re putting in is more modern and will allow for better monitoring of usage.

“We can gather data in more real time with this network than we could before,” he explained.

Nemmers said back about 20 years ago they would need to walk past every house to read every meter. In recent years, they’ve used a radio read system.

“We currently drive around town and gather meter readings from areas of town,” Nemmers said.

This system will eliminate the need for field workers and allow anything to be read right from city hall. It can also provide readings as frequently as needed through a software program. Rather than having a field worker going out to collect the data, they’ll learn how to read the software.

“We can identify power outages or water leaks more quickly than we could before,” Nemmers said.

While the backbone infrastructure has been installed, the next step is that a contractor will be coming into town to replace the meters. They’ll start with the electric meters, which will be switched out by Allegiant.

Nemmers said the majority of electric meters are located outside of homes. However, in some homes, maybe 20 percent, they’re located on the inside.

“These contractors are coming and they’ll have badges and marked vehicles but people need to know they’ll be coming into the community and working in backyards,” Nemmers said.

For those who have meters located inside the home, the contractors will leave door hangers for people to call in and make appointments.

“People need to keep an eye on their front door if they know their electric meter is inside,” Nemmers said.

The outside meters can be replaced fairly quickly, within half an hour, so most people won’t even be aware that the swap took place.

“When you come home and your clocks are flashing, you’ll know a brief power outage happened,” Nemmers explained.

Replacement of water meters by Keystone will start in January and everyone’s water meter is located inside. Nemmers said they’ll be reaching out to people to schedule times to access the water meters in basements in the next few months.

“We’re changing the whole meter so we’ll have to do some plumbing to change out the meter in line of the water service. There will be a transmitter that’s mounted somewhere near the meter to transmit the readings to city hall,” Nemmers explained.

Nemmers said that the city has been working toward this project for nearly three years. It’s been budgeted for in the capital projects and some utility funds are being used, as well as funds from SMMPA, the city’s whole sale provider.

“We’ve been able to fund it with minimal rate increases. We really haven’t had any rate increases on the electric side,” Nemmers said.

After the new meters are installed, they should be good for 10 to 15 years before they need to be replaced again.

“It should make our utility billing process more accurate and it will certainly make our meter reading more efficient,” Nemmers said.

A postcard mailing with information will be sent out to all utility customers and information will also be posted on the city’s social media pages.