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Adelanto council approves phase 2 of smart‑meter rollout after questions about faulty meters
Summary
The Adelanto City Council on Oct. 6 approved the Public Utility Authority's phase‑2 smart‑meter installation to replace dead meters and expand automated readings citywide. Engineers told the council they found roughly 400 nonfunctioning meters and said field testing can confirm malfunctions for possible billing adjustments.
The Adelanto City Council voted Oct. 6 to approve the Adelanto Public Utility Authority's phase‑2 rollout of smart water meters, closing gaps in the system and allowing the city to detect leaks and improve billing accuracy.
Richard Burgess, an engineer in the city's engineering department, told the council the second phase completes installation at residential locations that were not covered by the original contract. “One of the biggest issues is that we had 400 and something, dead meters in the city,” Burgess said, adding that replacing those meters is a main benefit of the work.
Why it matters: the smart meters move the city from manual reads to automated meter infrastructure (AMI). Staff and the presenter said AMI reduces operating cost, provides residents with clearer usage data and permits automated leak alerts; the original contract dated to about 2020 and a revision is needed because of city growth.
Council members pressed staff about customer protections after residents reported sudden bill spikes. Mayor Reyes described cases in which a resident’s bill “just doubled” with no change in usage. Burgess said installing smart meters will not retroactively reconstruct past inaccuracies but that engineers can test existing meters in the field to determine whether a meter malfunctioned during the disputed period. “We can test the meters...and if we determine that the meter was malfunctioning,” he said, the engineering team would report findings to the city manager and staff could consider next steps.
What was decided: the council approved the APUA consent item to proceed with phase‑2 installation by voice vote after staff closed public comment on the item. The vote was recorded by voice and carried without noted opposition.
What remains unresolved: the council did not adopt a specific refund or credit policy on the spot. Burgess said the engineering department can provide evidence of a malfunction; whether that leads to credits or account adjustments would be decided by the city manager and billing staff, and any policy or limit was not specified during the meeting.
Next steps: staff will proceed with the phase‑2 work under the revised contract terms described in the meeting and will return to city processes if additional approvals are required. The council also asked staff to investigate customer billing disputes on a case‑by‑case basis and to forward technical findings to the city manager for direction.
