MLGW to replace failed gas and water meter registers; president says meters issue separate from electric smart‑meter purchases
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Summary
MLGW officials briefed council on planned procurement and on meter failures that led to delayed bills. The utility will seek about $8 million next week to replace parts on gas meters and has a $2.7 million electric meter purchase on the consent list; management said the electric meters were not the source of recent delayed/held bills.
Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) officials told the council's Utility Committee on March 18 that the recent wave of delayed or held customer bills stemmed from failed registers on gas and water meters, not the electric smart meters that MLGW regularly buys.
Doug McGowan, MLGW president, said the utility has tracked the costs and is negotiating with the meter vendor. "I'll be telling you, coming to you in about a week's time, for new registers for those gas meters so that we can quickly replace those," McGowan said. He told the committee the utility has received replacement parts for failed meters and will propose a purchase to replace remaining vulnerable register parts systemwide.
MLGW staff outlined two procurement packages on the committee's fiscal consent agenda including a $2.7 million purchase of roughly 15,000 electric meters that the utility uses routinely to meet new construction and replacement demand; staff said those electric meters were not involved in the delayed/held billing problem. The utility will seek approval next week for about $8 million in parts to fix gas meters and for additional water meter components to eliminate the registers that failed last month.
Officials also described multiple capital facility projects: an expansion of MLGW's North Service Center to consolidate vehicle maintenance and transformer work (planning and an environmental assessment are underway; construction funding will be requested later); a proposed resilient System Operations Center to replace the current Covington Pike control center (the department is evaluating buy‑versus‑build options and has funds in FY25 to begin work); and an examination of options to relocate the downtown headquarters if the council decides a different, higher‑and‑better use is appropriate for the current site.
Ending: Council members asked for a schedule and cost breakdown for potential facility moves and for a report next week with the detailed meter‑parts procurement and the vendor negotiation status. MLGW said it is preserving cost records and seeking vendor restitution for the meter‑component failures.