O'Fallon staff recommend $4.5M move to Badger Meter cellular endpoints and customer portal
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Summary
Staff recommended a phased, three-year Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) implementation with Badger Meter endpoints (roughly $4.5 million upfront) and a customer portal to improve leak detection, reduce truck-reading labor and modernize meter operations; committee forwarded the resolution to council.
City staff presented a recommendation to modernize O'Fallon's water-meter reading system by replacing aging encoder-receiver-transmitter (ERT) hardware and registers with Badger Meter cellular endpoints and the Beacon SaaS / EyeOnWater customer portal.
The presenter described the current Itron truck-read system's operational costs — roughly 500–600 hours annually for drive-by and final reads and material/labor to replace failing ERT devices — and said the city is spending on the order of $225,000–$335,000 annually to maintain the outdated equipment. Staff proposed a phased, three-year implementation replacing registers and installing cellular endpoints on standard residential meters (5/8"–1"), with complete replacement of larger meters (2"–6"). The presenter estimated implementation costs "a little over $4,500,000," with a per-meter cellular service charge locked at $9.48 per meter for years 1–3 (roughly $175,000 annually at full deployment). Staff said existing water reserves and the current rate structure would cover the implementation and ongoing costs without an immediate rate increase.
Staff highlighted customer-facing benefits: near-real-time consumption data uploaded multiple times per day, leak detection, a mobile/web portal for customers (no app fee), and tools for staff to mirror customer views during support calls. Operational advantages cited included reduced truck-reading labor and faster final reads for move-outs. The presenter said Badger's cellular network guarantees for the life of endpoints (20 years) and API integrations with the utility billing system were key reasons for recommending Badger.
Committee members asked about overlap costs during the multi-year rollout (both systems active), installation labor, whether customers would see direct charges (staff said no), and notification plans; staff said existing crews would perform installations and communications would be developed prior to each deployment area. The committee voted to forward the resolution and supporting materials to full council for approval.