Finance Analyst Leslie Gulley told the San Dieguito Water District board on Oct. 15 that the district will launch a redesigned utility billing website in November and that staff is preparing the system to integrate with future advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

"This upgrade is a major step forward in how we serve our community," Gulley said during the presentation, summarizing the website’s goals: a more intuitive, mobile-friendly interface; options to pay with or without logging in; easier management of payment methods and autopay; and online services such as starting or stopping service, printing bills and viewing consumption.

Gulley said the new site will include customer-facing supports such as email reminders, how-to videos and a frequently asked questions section, and will let staff emulate a customer’s experience to provide better phone support. She said the platform will be scalable for future smart-meter integration and will offer features such as real-time balances when AMI is implemented.

On AMI, staff said the district is close to finalizing contract terms with a selected vendor; a small paragraph remains under negotiation with the vendor’s legal team. Staff expressed hope of returning to the board in November to award phase 1 of the contract, but did not provide a specific award date.

Board members asked about rollout strategy and testing. Vice President Ehlers asked whether the November deployment would be a full cutover or a beta test. Gulley said testing has been continuous and that the district will do a full, 100 percent rollout when ready. "Yes. It'll be a 100%," she said in response to the question about rollout scope.

Ehlers also asked whether staff could test and demonstrate the interface to board members before the cutover. Gulley and IT staff said they have been using agile development and have performed ongoing tests; staff can emulate customer issues to troubleshoot problems prior to launch.

Board member O'Hara asked whether the system will enable individualized customer alerts once AMI meters are in place. Staff confirmed that AMI functionality will support customer alerts for high use or leaks.

Gulley said the district has integrated the new billing system with the My Encinitas app. She and board members thanked IT staff for the work to date and said they look forward to a smooth November launch.

The board recorded no action on the presentation; staff will return with contract and implementation milestones for AMI when available.