Village of Frankfort receives award for Smart Meters
By
WKTV News
Story Created:
Jun 2, 2011 at 10:44 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Jun 2, 2011 at 10:44 PM EDT
VILLAGE OF FRANKFORT, N.Y. (WKTV) The Smart Meter Program in Frankfort earns the village an award from the Conference of Mayors.
The program uses the Smart Meters to measure the amount of water each home uses- they replace the old water meters. The new meters also allow for a more accurate 28 day read and billing process.
Mayor Frank Moracco says between 30 and 40% of the water in the village was unaccounted for. He says some people would tamper with the old water meters so they would not read properly. The new meters would be tamper-proof and if someone tried to tamper with them an alarm would go off, alerting village officials. The meters will also alert village officials if a reading appears to be a lot higher or a lot lower than the average reading in a particular household. This will allow leaks and other problems to be taken care of as soon as possible.
The information from the meters is transmitted over the internet to a home computer in the village offices. This eliminates the need for meter readers to go door to door. "What it's also done is taken a lot of liability away from our workers. With some of these houses where the driveways aren't shoveled and there's always that concern that one of our employees might slip on ice and fall with this. We don't have to send those guys out. We're saving probably 430 manhours a year in reading the meters, " says Moracco.
The project was awarded First Place in the Public Works Category at the 24th Annual Local Government Achievement Award Program.
Many of the Smart Meters are already installed in homes throughout the village. The rest will be installed in the near future. The program was funded through the Community Development Block Grant.
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