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Monroe approves $6.9 million advanced metering system contract with WESCO; budget ordinance adopted
Summary
Monroe City Council voted to award AMI contracts to WESCO Distribution Inc., adopt a budget ordinance to fund the project from utility enterprise funds and authorize the city manager to execute contracts. Staff said the system is expected to pay back in under eight years and will be phased in through 2028.
Monroe City Council on Aug. 12 approved contracts with WESCO Distribution Inc. to install an advanced metering infrastructure system for electric and natural gas service and adopted budget ordinance B O 2025-16 to fund the project.
City General Manager of Energy Services and Water Resources Rob Miller told council the contract price for the system is $6,901,203 and that the proposal covers hardware, a meter data management system and a customer engagement portal. Miller said the city expects roughly $22.52 million in benefits over 20 years and estimated a payback period of less than eight years. He also said the system’s annual operating cost over 20 years is materially less than $100,000 per year.
Miller said the package includes replacement or retrofit of about 13,500 electric meters and communications modules for roughly 14,000 gas meters, deployment of approximately 30 data-collection units on city assets, head-end software on-premises and the customer portal. He told council the city will phase in water meters later as replacements or developer installs occur.
Council voted to award two contracts—one for system development and software and a separate construction-style contract for meter installation that requires bonding—and to authorize the city manager to execute the agreements.
Why it matters: City staff said the AMI system will provide near-real-time meter reads, automated customer notifications, improved outage and leak detection, fewer truck rolls and new data for system planning. Miller said the project can be cash-funded from enterprise fund balance and will not require a utility rate increase.
The project schedule presented to council calls for an initial deployment and system testing in a pilot area by December 2026 and full system deployment completed by September 2028.
Council discussion and next steps: Council asked whether the project is funded from tax revenues; Miller answered it will be paid from enterprise funds. Staff will return final contract documents for the city manager’s signature and begin the pilot deployment and system testing as scheduled.
Ending: Council approved the contracts and the budget ordinance by voice vote; the record shows council asked staff to proceed with contract execution and the phased roll-out plan as described by Miller.
