HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-01-20; January 2022 Water Meter Reading Issue (Districts All); Gomez, PazTo the members of the:
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CMWD Board Memorandum
Jan. 20,2022
To:
From:
Via :
Re:
Carlsbad Municipal ater
Paz Gomez, Deputy Ci
Vicki Quiram, General a
istrict Board of Directors
a er, Public Works
-"'"'71:~ Scott Chadwick, Executi e ager
January 2022 Water Me ading Issue (Districts -All)
Ccarlsbad
Municipal Water District
Memo ID #2022010
This memorandum provides information related to a January 2022 software system error related
to a portion of Carlsbad Municipal Water District's water meter readings and a billing and
software update that resolves the problem.
Background
On the first of each month, the Carlsbad Municipal Water District, or CMWD, collects
approximately 30,000 water meter reads via the Itron Advanced Metering Infrastructure, or AMI,
system. For various reasons, at times, the AMI system cannot read some of the meters, so AMI
transfers the water usage data to the Itron Mobile Collector software.
Staff is then able to drive by the meters to collect the missing data. The. drive-by water meter
reads are collected and posted to the Itron Field Collector System, or FCS. Once this process is
complete, all reads are transferred to the Northstar Utility Billing system, and customers are
billed for their monthly water consumption.
Discussion
On Jan. 5, 2022, CMWD meter services staff noticed that about 800 drive-by meter reads were
not posting to the Itron FCS. Information Technology (IT) Department staff discovered that Itron
was experiencing a software problem. Because of the software issue, the January usage on these
800 meters is no longer available.
CMWD Ordinance No. 47, Article Ill, Section 12(c) -Failed Meter Reads, states, "In the event a
water meter fails to register during any month, a charge will be made based upon three-month
average amount of water used during the same period for the previous year. In the event there
was no meter at this place during the previous year, a charge will be made upon an estimate
fixed by the CMWD, which shall be paid by the customer."
Therefore, the amount of water used for these 800 meters will be estimated based upon CMWD
Ordinance No. 47 for the month of January 2022, based on the criteria set forth in the ordinance.
Carlsbad Municipal Water District
5950 El Camino Real I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-438-2722 t
Board Memo -January 2022 Water Meter Reading Issue (Districts -All)
Jan. 20, 2022
Page 2
IT will upgrade Itron FCS, which is expected to take two weeks to complete, so that this issue will
be corrected for the February 2022 and subsequent bills.
Next Steps
The IT Department will continue to work with Itron and the CMWD meter services staff to
upgrade Itron FCS. The upgrade will be completed before the February 2022 meter reading and
billing.
cc: Geoff Patnoe, Assistant Executive Manager
Celia Brewer, General Counsel
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services
Robby Contreras, Assistant General Counsel
Maria Callander, Information Technology Director
Cheryl Gerhardt, Finance Manager
Eric Sanders, Utilities Manager
Mario Remillard, Meter Services and Customer Service Supervisor