The Importance of Meter Data for Water Utilities

Analytics software can help utilities overcome these hurdles and make the most of their meter reading data. This is helpful when a utility upgrades to the latest reading technology, for example an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. But if the utility only uses it for a billing read, they are getting a poor return from their investment. Utilities need a powerful analytics software to digest and act on the data their smart water system provides—like BEACON^® Software as a Service (SaaS).

Choosing an Analytics Software

Water utilities have a variety of data management systems they can pick from. BEACON SaaS is a popular choice for its reliable performance in collecting meter reading data and sourcing the analytics that are most important to a utility’s operations. It provides users with a holistic view of their water utility and metering system performance at a glance, as well as a detailed analysis of the inner workings of the system. When this information is readily available, it can improve operational efficiencies and help make staff members’ jobs easier.

More reasons why utilities choose BEACON SaaS include:

1. Brings true meaning to interval data—instead of just collecting data points at a set interval, utilities can leverage the software to sort through data with various filters, including consumption, temperature and pressure.
2. Provides proactive intelligence—utilities can tell the software which parameters are most important, and the software will create alerts when it’s time to take action.
3. Eliminates the need to run reports—data is automatically collected, delivered and reported based on the set parameters. There is no need to manually run reports or collect data.
4. Enhances customer service—as useful as timely data is for utilities, end customers can also take advantage of the information to monitor their usage and identify leaks through a consumer engagement tool. This often improves customer satisfaction as consumption data transparency increases and customers are empowered to take responsibility.

Putting Water Data Into Action

If a water utility collects 15-minute interval reads for 5,000 accounts, it receives a total of 14,400,000 data points every month. Utilities can use this remarkable amount of data to be proactive in identifying issues and improve how their utility is run.

With an analytics system in place, utilities can:

• Decide what system exceptions are most important (i.e., high/low pressure, temperature, leaks, tampers, flow consumption, etc.) and set specific parameters to receive alerts and reminders when irregularities occur.
• Assign specific accounts to be monitored for key exceptions, whether it’s a certain area of the utility or every account.
• Define alert criteria to determine who, how and how often key individuals will receive exception alerts.
• Analyze the continual system monitoring because software mines the data for utilities to identify exceptions in near real-time.
• Receive notifications based on defined exceptions to take action at the first sign of an alert.
• Improve utility management by addressing issues and achieving goals to improve overall operations.

Making the Most of Your Water Meter Data

Water metering data is crucial to the success of your utility. If you don’t have an analytics software system in place, consider a system upgrade that incorporates BEACON SaaS. This SaaS is credited with helping utilities address non-revenue water concerns, bill more accurately, enhance sustainability efforts and improve consumer engagement and transparency. Find out more about BEACON SaaS and what this powerful SaaS can do for your utility.