How BEACON^® SaaS and ORION^® Cellular Endpoints Improved Revenue and Customer Service

That’s why, when it came time to select a new meter reading solution, the ability to receive data-driven analytics to better understand, monitor and manage its operations was a top priority for the utility’s leadership team. 

The Need for an Smart Water Solution

“We used to manually read 22,000 meters each month, were facing an aging infrastructure and looking at a meter changeout. We went beyond just the meters and evaluated metering solutions that could provide additional benefits such as proactive customer service, operational efficiencies, reduced meter-reading costs, and rolling fewer trucks to get those monthly reads,” explained Jason Wilson, engineering manager for SalisburyRowan Utilities. 

The utility chose the BEACON^® Software as a Service (SaaS) solution and ORION^® Cellular endpoints from Badger Meter. BEACON SaaS’s cloud-based software analytics platform provides the actionable information Salisbury-Rowan managers need and has saved both time and money for the utility’s largest customers.

Benefits of More Data for Large Customers 

“A nearby town is a wholesale purchase customer, and we also operate their system. As the contract operator, we are required to produce and file reports with the state for monthly water usage. We used to go there every day to read the master meter and record the usage,” said Jeff Jones, senior engineer for SalisburyRowan Utilities. “Now, with BEACON SaaS, we get the daily readings in the office. We can also see when there is excessive usage that indicates a potential leak, and then we go out and find it.”

“One of our largest customers is our schools. We installed an endpoint at one of the elementary schools at the end of May. When school was out in June, we noticed there was still continuous usage, which indicated a leak in the plumbing system. We identified where the leaks were, repaired them, and by the end of the month, the usage patterns dropped to what they should be. If they had gone undetected, the leaks would have added about $140 each month to the school’s water bill,” said Jones.

When a monthly reading cycle is completed, the reading data is compared to data from the same period during the previous year and the system flags accounts with unusually high use. This signals a potential leak, so city personnel can go out and check the meter to determine if there is a problem.  If a leak is suspected, they can advise the customer, so they can take appropriate action to make repairs.

The ability to provide more specific, accurate consumption data to customers results in better communications and fewer disputes over billing. When questions do arise, the detailed information helps to appropriately inform customers of usage. In addition, the city’s customers appreciate the rapid notification of potential leaks to reduce real water loss and related costs.

At another large customer, reading a meter located in a below-ground meter vault was a labor-intensive process that required pumping water out of the vault so meter readers could get the reading. With BEACON SaaS, the utility obtains hourly reads without going into the vault and the customer can access its usage information to help monitor its system. 

“Many of our commercial and industrial customers want to evaluate process efficiencies and account for the water they are using or may be losing. A large account recently built a new plant in Salisbury. They compared their water usage here to other plants they operate throughout the country and noticed they are operating at a higher level with the new plant. They are using the hourly data from the BEACON SaaS software suite to perform an audit of where that water is going,” said Wilson.

ORION Cellular Endpoints Provide Flexibility

Salisbury-Rowan managers chose cellular meter reading technology because it allowed them to target customers that had a need for more data without the need for a fixed-based infrastructure to collect the information. It allowed the utility to do shotgun deployments throughout the system, without a data collector in place. 

“We were surprised at how easy it is to deploy the cellular endpoints. You plug them in, activate them, provision them through the software and you start getting the reads,” added Jones.

The utility was also able to leverage its investment in its existing ORION-- Fixed Network (SE) endpoints and infrastructure by integrating them into BEACON SaaS. 

Increased Revenues and Improved Customer Service

A big benefit of data analytics for Salisbury-Rowan customers is timeliness. The utility can let customers know within days if they may have an issue, such as a leak. Before BEACON SaaS, it could have been six weeks or more before the customer would let the utility know they had a potential problem or question their water usage.

“Before, the only thing our customer service reps had was the same thing the customer had: the billing read. Now we’re able to look at hourly data every day, analyze it or set alerts, proactively let the customer know they may have an issue and work with them to resolve the problem,” said Wilson.

Wilson said Salisbury-Rowan’s experience with BEACON SaaS has been very positive.

“We are actually generating increased revenues through more accurate meter reading. We can give our large customers access to the data we are seeing on a daily basis to help them monitor their water usage and see potential problems. The big one for us is the abundance of data that we can evaluate and analyze in order to make better decisions and better forecasts for our utility,” he added.