Kyle previews AMI customer portal that will show near‑hourly water use and leak alerts

City utility staff on July 2 previewed the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) customer portal intended to give Kyle water customers near-hourly views of consumption, leak and continuous-use alerts, usage comparisons, and tailored conservation tips. Director Mike Murphy and Assistant Director Blake Neffendorf said the AMI program involved reprogramming or replacing about 15,000 water meters and yielded operational and revenue benefits by reducing manual reads and catching leaks earlier.

The portal will allow customers to review daily and hourly use, receive notifications when continuous flow or unusual patterns indicate leaks (the system flags many toilet leaks), and set bill‑forecast alerts. Staff said the portal can also be used for community messaging such as boil‑water notices and that initial staff training has been completed; a phased rollout to customers is planned for early August after remaining accounts are finalized in the vendor system.

Council members praised the tool and asked about integration with the city’s online bill‑pay system. Blake Neffendorf said the portal will be a separate login with links to the payment site for now, and staff will explore tighter integration later to increase public participation. Staff emphasized that near-real-time alerts and the portal’s recommendations can reduce water production needs and save both the utility and customers money.

The portal will be accompanied by online how‑to videos and customer support through 311. Staff said the rollout schedule depends on final vendor data validation and completing the last few thousand account conversions; they expect broad availability in early August and will conduct outreach to raise participation.