PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Following a technical review showing multiple failure modes in the city’s current automated metering system, the Punta Gorda City Council voted Wednesday to pursue an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) replacement.

Kroll Engineers’ technical advisor Norm Anderson told the council that analysis of the city’s installed meters — most of which were deployed between 2017 and 2019 — showed a significant uptick in non‑reporting devices beginning about year five after installation. “Projections on the current rate of where the meters are failing, all the meters would probably be failed from communicating in about 2027,” Anderson said during the presentation.

The consultant presented four replacement options: manual meter reading (in‑house), third‑party drive‑by AMR, a modern AMR drive‑by network and a full AMI deployment. The engineer’s 10‑year cost estimates placed AMR at about $8.7 million and AMI at about $10.8 million; in‑house manual reading and vendor‑read manual programs were in the same multi‑million‑dollar range.

The AMI option carries higher upfront costs but offers daily reads, remote leak detection and customer notification tools that the city does not have under its current system, Anderson said. He also described specific failure modes that have affected the existing meters — water‑ingress at antenna splice connectors, battery enclosure failures and a fragile encoder design — and noted that parts shortages and vendor responsiveness have hampered the city’s ability to maintain the existing fleet.

Nut graf: With a unanimous council vote, Punta Gorda will move forward on specifications and procurement planning for a cellular AMI replacement, citing the operational risk of the current system and the benefit of near‑real‑time consumption and leak detection for customers.

Council members and residents discussed tradeoffs including cost, warranty terms, the possibility of vendor litigation over the city’s previous meters, and the resilience of networks during storm‑related outages. Staff said the city already has a placeholder capital project of roughly $10 million in the utilities CIP; the council directed staff and Kroll Engineers to draft procurement specifications and return with a timeline and budget refinement.

“AMI can provide other information to you, but it costs,” said utility advisory board member Gary Skillekorn, who spoke during public comment. Councilmember Greg Julian moved to proceed with AMI; the motion passed unanimously.