Bridge to AMI: Removing the Guesswork for Cotati, CA

Introduction 

Water utilities across the nation have increasingly realized benefits from new interval metering technologies. In particular, more frequent meter reads have helped utilities reduce non-revenue water, drive down operational costs, increase the quality of data collection, and gain greater visibility into meter asset health. Thus, the business case to make substantial investments in advanced metering infrastructure has become stronger. 

More frequent meter reads also provides greater visibility into water consumption patterns. Utility customers can quickly detect and identify leaks, gain visibility into discrete water consumption patterns, and enable notifications about personalized money saving fixes. Not only does this save money from lower utility bills, but it also protects households from water damage. 

While these are all valuable benefits, they typically only accrue after the migration to AMI. How can utilities realize these engagement advantages before an AMI deployment, which could take years? Because AMI deployments can be disruptive, how do utilities pave the way for better customer communication during the transition to AMI? 

The City of Cotati 

The City of Cotati has worked with VertexOne since 2011, and was the company’s first utility partner. The City of Cotati is located in Sonoma County, California about 45 miles north of San Francisco. The case of Cotati is instructive on how utilities with older metering technology can offer customer benefits usually associated with AMI. 

Before and During AMI Deployment 

The City of Cotati had already been using VertexOne’s Customer Intelligence platform prior to their Itron AMI deployment. Before deploying AMI, Cotati regularly analyzed consumption data from VertexOne’s Analytics Dashboard and informed customers about their water use through the VertexOne Customer Portal. This created a common communication interface for all customers and a channel to explain the value of water services that Cotati customers were receiving. 

As Cotati began to implement the Itron system, newly available hourly interval data was fed into the VertexOne platform, which allowed Cotati to immediately gain greater intelligence into customer consumption and behavior patterns. Cotati also delivered this information through the same Customer Portal ratepayers were already using, which enabled direct customer communications on hourly water use, savings opportunities, low-volume leaks, rebate and incentive programs, and other time-sensitive information. 

As a result of enhancing the value of an already familiar interface and method of engagement, Cotati ratepayers immediately experienced the added benefits of the Itron AMI system. Cotati was able to easily communicate the value of the infrastructure investment, and the cost to serve customers decreased as more ratepayers migrated to digital communications and online self-service tools. 

Actionable Insights from AMI

As most utilities discover, AMI systems provide so much data that managers can become overwhelmed and unsure how to use the data to improve processes. Additionally, there may be data integration and data quality challenges throughout the meter to cash process. 

When Cotati started receiving data from their Itron AMI data, managers quickly had to learn how to leverage the data to improve decision-making and operations. During Cotati’s transition to AMI, VertexOne immediately found anomalies within the AMI data. The VertexOne platform found excessively high and zero reads from the meter and billing system, which were missed by the Meter Data Management (MDM) system. Cotati used the information surfaced by VertexOne to investigate meter read exceptions as a mechanism to recover potentially lost revenue. VertexOne’s ability to connect water consumption, billing, and meter data enabled Cotati to maximize the value of their AMI investment. 

Conclusion 

The City of Cotati exemplifies how VertexOne can provide an additional layer of analytics intelligence and communications tailored to the utility. Additionally, Cotati showcases how improved customer engagement isn’t dependent on the availability of interval data but is a precursor to such investment.

VertexOne’s engagement with utilities in 11 states with over 50 utilities illustrates the power of using information-based engagement programs during an AMI implementation and deployment. The VertexOne Program is a highly cost-effective solution to help utilities yield operational savings, leverage legacy meter data, and increase customer satisfaction during the implementation of large-scale infrastructure programs. 

As a result of enhancing the value of an already familiar interface and method of engagement, Cotati ratepayers immediately experienced the added benefits of the Itron AMI system. Cotati was able to easily communicate the value of the infrastructure investment, and the cost to serve customers decreased as more ratepayers migrated to digital communications and online self-service tools. 

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