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High Point says AMI nearly complete for electric meters; water rollout, leak alerts and customer-portal adoption grow
Summary
City staff reported about 99% electric meter deployment and 68% water AMI deployment, active leak-detection alerts and early customer-portal adoption (34% registered). Staff said automated alerts have led to rapid repairs and remote meter operations that reduce field visits.
Jeremy Cobo presented the city's advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) update and said the electric-meter deployment is about 99% complete and the water AMI deployment is about 68% complete.
"We are about 99% electric meter deployment," Cobo said, adding that the water deployment and network optimization remain dependent on field conditions. He described operational gains from AMI: more than 3,200 automated leak alerts have been generated to date and the system supports remote disconnects and reconnects, which he characterized as more than 16,000 events that have reduced truck rolls.
Cobo offered an example of an elderly couple whose house had a substantial water leak; he said the system identified the abnormal usage and crews fixed the problem and confirmed correction in roughly two-and-a-half days. He emphasized that certain billing adjustments are possible only when water did not enter the sewer system: "The sewer charge can be adjusted if it was a concealed leak or the leak did not go into the sewer system," he said, noting toilet leaks that flow to sewer are not reimbursable.
Celine, an NC Fellow assigned to the city's customer-service work, described outreach tied to AMI and the customer portal. She said the customer portal launched March 3 and that 34% of customers have registered; 83% of payments are now processed through digital channels. The portal provides online bill payment, account management, real-time usage, custom alerts and leak-detection tools; Celine said staff used events, decals, multilingual materials (English, Spanish, Urdu) and media to drive adoption.
Council members and staff discussed privacy and account-access procedures for people who assist relatives or manage multiple properties; Cobo said customers can grant portal access to others but administrative access is limited and requires account-holder participation.
Next steps: city staff expect to continue water-AMi deployment and network optimization into mid-summer and will refine workflows and standard operating procedures as data quality improves.
