Residents in the nation’s capital have used automated water meters since 2002. The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) uses a fixed network, radio technology system which eliminates estimated readings.

One of the benefits: the development of an award-winning High Usage Notification Application (HUNA). HUNA is a free service that alerts customers of leaks. Offered since 2006, HUNA generated more than 18,000 notifications and lowered DC Water’s high usage threshold by 40 percent.

In 2013, DC Water issued a one-time customer rebate of approximately $9 to each of the 600,000 customers it serves. The rebate resulted from a surplus in the utility’s 2012 budget. Though DC Water officials do not directly attribute the automated meters for the surplus, the opportunities created and efficiencies realized by utilizing technology certainly foster a cost-saving environment.

To learn more about MLGW’s smart grid project go to www.mlgw.com/smartgrid.