Lake Oswego nears completion of smart water meter rollout; city highlights leak detection and customer portal

Lake Oswego public works officials told the City Council during a May meeting that the city is close to completing an automated meter infrastructure (AMI) program that will let customers view near‑real‑time water use and let staff detect leaks more quickly.

Public Works Director and city engineer Erica Rooney introduced the project and said the rollout shows benefits for conservation, billing and long‑term water system accountability. “This effort has been led by the Public Works Department,” Rooney said, noting utility billing staff have been partners in the work.

The project team outlined how AMI works and what residents can expect. Assistant Public Works Director Joel Conkey explained the new meters send a low‑power radio signal to collectors and then by cellular link to billing software, removing the need for a meter reader to visit each property. “The newer one just has this little box on the side, which is a battery,” Conkey said. He said the battery is expected to last about 20 years and the signal is about 1 watt; readings are transmitted roughly every 15 seconds.

The city reported installation progress and costs. Conkey said residential meters cost about $2,400,000, with contractor installation adding about $395,000; commercial meters later added approximately $1,900,000 with an additional $145,000 for installation. He said roughly 343 meters remained to be installed and that the rest had been shipped and should arrive in the next few days. The city covered the work from the water fund and did not raise utility rates to pay for it.

Water conservation and customer service were central points. Water conservation specialist Jason Hoy described the customer portal that lets account holders view hourly, daily or monthly consumption and set customizable alerts for continuous use or threshold amounts. Hoy gave examples staff had already used to find leaks: a customer’s irrigation leak that went unnoticed for two billing cycles under the old system and a larger out‑of‑town leak that lost more than 300,000 gallons before discovery. “With AMI data and the leak alerts…he would have known right away,” Hoy said of an out‑of‑town customer whose property suffered a major leak.

Council members asked about enrollment and operations. Staff said about 21,000 users had portal access in some form; they also said there are 12,500 water accounts on file. Staff confirmed electronic checks (ACH) are now accepted through the portal and that the portal will notify customers when credit cards expire. City staff said the system provides battery life and connectivity alerts, which will help the city track device health and tamper events over time.

Council members pressed about customer protections for unusually large bills. The city said it will continue to offer a leak adjustment program that can split a difference for up to two months when a customer shows a repaired leak, and that excess consumption tied to a leak is often marked at the lowest rate tier for billing adjustment.

Officials said the AMI system will reduce drive time for meter reads, speed move‑in/move‑out account work and improve the city’s ability to find unbilled water use. “Now we can see that basically instantaneously,” Conkey said of leak detection, “so we’ll be able to catch those leaks and even homeowners will be able to catch those leaks quite a bit faster.”

The city’s rollout plan includes ongoing monitoring of meter battery life and planned phased replacements over decades as technology evolves. Staff told council they expect to finish the current installation phase by the end of the summer.

For residents, the immediate changes are online access to usage graphs, cost views, and opt‑in leak alerts; for the city, officials said the program will improve water loss accounting and customer service.

Questions from councilors and staff follow‑up items included clarifying how many accounts were enrolled, confirming the availability of ACH, and options for billing disputes and leak adjustments.