Sensus deployed its iPERL smart metering solution and the FlexNet network for the city of Okotoks, Alberta
The town of Okotoks, in Alberta, Canada, has selected Sensus to replace and upgrade the city’s water infrastructure with a smart metering system, a key IoT vertical use case with clear ROI and relatively simple deployment process.
“Many of our meters were outdated,” said Chris Radford, infrastructure and operations director for the Town of Okotoks. “We needed an upgrade and opted for a solution that would allow us to detect abnormal water usage sooner, supporting water conservation efforts in real-time.”
Under the contract, Sensus deployed its Sensus iPERL meters and the FlexNet network.
To better manage and monitor its customers’ water consumption rates, Okotoks worked with Epcor Water Services to deploy the Sensus Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution. Comprised of Sensus iPERL water meters and the FlexNet communication network, the technology has enabled the town’s staff to gain a more accurate view of water consumption data for more than 8,400 residential and commercial properties.
“It provides more insight into water consumption trends,” said Radford. “The real-time data allows us to work with customers over the phone, pull up their information and address issues around high usage.”
“We no longer have technicians risking their safety when entering customers’ yards to read meters manually. Weather, especially icy walking conditions, dogs and even hidden obstacles, is always a safety concern for our meter readers,” said Darren Peel, manager, Okotoks operations at Epcor.
Epcor is a utility company based in Edmonton, Alberta, which manages numerous municipal water and wastewater treatment facilities throughout Alberta and British Columbia.
Sensus is owned by Xylem, a global water technology company which focuses on products and services to move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residential and commercial building services. With its October 2016 acquisition of Sensus, Xylem added smart metering, network technologies and advanced data analytics to its portfolio of solutions.
Jamaican utility to expand smart street light initiative
In related news, Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) said it will extend its existing Silver Spring Networks’ IPv6 platform to connect up to 110,000 smart LED street lights in population centers around the island including Kingston, Spanish Town, Negril, and Falmouth. Silver Spring’s Streetlight.Vision Central Management System (CMS) will also be deployed for JPS through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to control and manage the networked street lights.
The smart street light controls provided by Silver Spring will help drive additional energy efficiency, and will also help increase citizen safety by alerting light failures.
JPS’ three-year program to upgrade the lighting infrastructure with new LED street lights and smart controls will begin in the coming months.
