Council reviews purchase of seven monopoles to complete advanced metering network

Utilities staff on Aug. 11 told the Chandler City Council they plan to purchase and install seven additional monopoles to complete an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) gateway network that collects reads from new water meters.

The monopoles are single poles (about 40 feet tall for six sites and one 60-foot pole) that will host small antennas acting as gateway collectors. The gateways will gather periodic meter reads from the city's roughly 87,000 newly installed water meters and transmit data into utility billing systems and a forthcoming customer portal. "What this does for us is that allows us real time access to that data that comes into our utility billing," the presenter said.

Staff said the seven monopoles would fill out an array of about 48 antenna sites citywide; the presentation included a map of proposed locations and said staff notified 315 nearby residents by postcard and received a single phone call. The planned customer portal will offer bill payments, bill history, start/transfer of service and usage alerts that residents can opt into. In response to questions from council, staff said alerts would be push notifications (email or text) and that meter-reading staffing levels are not expected to drop substantially because field work shifts toward device maintenance and IT support.

Council members described the project as a long-awaited upgrade. The presenter said one tangible public benefit is early leak detection to prevent large water losses and unexpected bills, citing an example of an out-of-town homeowner who returned to a major irrigation break.

No formal vote occurred during the study session; the item was presented for council review and will return for action as appropriate. Staff said installation of the seven monopoles is the remaining hardware step to enable the broader AMI customer features.