Council hears multi‑year plan for citywide smart‑meter rollout, testing and integration
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Summary
Staff described a bench testing and staged deployment plan with Westco for electric and water meter replacement: bench tests and a 3‑month initial deployment area will precede full deployment (electric: 12–18 months; water: 24–36 months); warranties and integration testing were emphasized and FCC licensing remains pending.
City staff presented details of a planned citywide meter replacement and smart‑meter project with Westco and partners, covering contract protections, bench testing, initial deployment and full roll‑out timelines. “Once some of [the materials] get in, there will be a test environment... we are gonna watch that meter turn. We’re gonna request a bill to be run,” staff said, describing the testing sequence and the initial deployment area intended to run three months of live meter‑to‑bill cycles.
Staff said electric deployment is expected to take 12–18 months while water meter replacement could take 24–36 months, with some schedule uncertainty driven by vendor lead times and installer labor availability. The team emphasized integration testing with the head‑end systems, the meter data management (MDM) platform, and customer‑facing portals.
Contract protections include warranties on many devices (some exceeding 10 years) and a maximum period during which the vendor holds pricing, but staff said there are not currently liquidated damages in the contract. Staff also noted the city will hold the FCC license for communications equipment and that the license process will occur after contract execution.
Staff said customer notifications, route planning and outage expectations would be part of the vendor’s scope; most customer water or electric interruptions would be brief and measured in minutes. The schedule and testing plan were presented as conservative: the city will not proceed beyond a step until the preceding step has been validated.
Council asked about items not covered by vendor warranties (for example, city‑provided materials such as meter box lids) and about remedies if the vendor does not complete on schedule; staff said pricing protections would lapse after a defined period and the contract includes numerous exhibits governing testing, installation and warranties.
No formal contract award occurred at the work session; staff expected the item to return for council action on Thursday.