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Utilities dashboard: low electric rates, reliability metrics and satellite leak detection pilot for hidden water losses
Summary
Quarterly utility dashboard showed Weatherford’s residential electric rate at 13¢/kWh (below regional averages) and system reliability indices; staff reported about 260 million gallons returned to Lake Weatherford via reuse and described a new satellite leak‑detection pilot that returned an ~80% hit rate for locating unknown leaks.
Utility staff presented the quarterly performance dashboard, noting residential electric rates have held at 13¢ per kilowatt‑hour for 34 months, which the presenter said is below local and national comparators. The board reviewed reliability metrics (customer average interruption duration index and system averages) and outage causes (40% weather, ~30% equipment, 14% wildlife, 10% public-caused incidents).
On water operations, staff reported that the combined reuse programs returned roughly 260,000,000 gallons to Lake Weatherford in the quarter (about a 2.4 MGD average) and that water and wastewater operations generally performed as expected. Schafer outlined concerns about nonrevenue water—some required uses and some unbilled/unmetered flows—and said 45–50% of nonrevenue water appears to be from unknown leaks.
To find unknown leaks, staff said the city has engaged a satellite leak‑detection vendor that analyzes radar and proprietary algorithms and provides monthly lists of suspected leak locations (10 locations per report); staff said the first report produced about an 80% hit rate when followed up with field correlators and listening devices.
Board members asked whether the program will reveal common factors (material type or age) and staff said it is too early to generalize with only one month of reporting but that follow‑up will allow analysis of patterns.
