Staff recommends that City Council approve the purchase of eight meter interface units from Northwest Pipe Fittings in the amount of $105,544.32.

The City of Billings Public Works Department currently has an AMR/AMI (Automatic Meter Reading/Advanced Metering Infrastructure) system in place through Neptune Technology Group, Inc. A propagation study was recently performed on the current system which identified coverage gaps and weak signal strengths in several meter interface units around Billings.  These units are a critical part of the Neptune AMI/AMR system and work by transmitting meter reading data over a single radio frequency.  Gaps in coverage and weak signals result in inefficiencies including the need for personnel to obtain manual meter readings and lack of timely leak detection.  These meter interface units are proprietary to the Neptune AMI/AMR system. In order to change the brand of meters, it would require a multi-million dollar investment in new hardware including, meters, telemetry and computer collection devices.

Northwest Pipe Fittings, Inc. is the only authorized Neptune distributor for the market area, including Billings, for sales, service and warranty of Neptune products and systems.

City Council may:

• Approve the purchase of the Neptune meter interface units from Northwest Pipe Fittings, Inc., or;
• Not approve this purchase which will result in increased staff time in obtaining manual meter readings.

These units were budgeted in FY23 using water funds.  There is sufficient budget for this purchase.