Metered Usage of City Water - Conservation and Rate Structure

Update 22 March 2017:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/oracle-utilities-launches-smart-grid-120000011.html
Oracle!  I don't know much but the Information Age is a computer management system of things.  Objects.  Object Oriented.  Oracle started with a relational data base of things.  I bet on that in 1984 with everything I had.  I don't know much but could see where things...objects.....real and abstract were going.  Higher level management is all about things.  Their applications as functions are lower level.  Oracle has progressed in the management of things in an amazing way.  Physical things managed indirectly through a data base have become directly managed through the IoT.

I sold enough Oracle stock at $46.32 recently to buy an RV I will get today.  The purchase price base per share was about .42 cents.  I am sure that the Oracle investment will continue to be a good one.

This update to an old blog entry is about Oracle's entry into the world of IoT with cloud consolidation management.  Will it eat the lunch of competitors at a lower level market share?  Way back when in the 1980's it seemed that the relational data base was the general purpose shoe to fit all feet.  Expansion to the management of all things in an object oriented repository with object oriented design and programming of the operating system and its application programs is the obvious path to success.

When will my small city go to the Oracle Cloud to manage not only its utilities but all of its abstract and physical things?  When I invested in Oracle so long ago the game of PacMan was popular.  I visualized Oracle then as that Pacman gobbling up one object after another until it had them all.  While most all players of the game saw it all from the functional point of view as they controlled the functional application of object I saw the object oriented view of the operating system that could apply to any and all functions.

I never did know much but the object oriented writing on the wall was easy to see.

This winter saw more snow here than I have seen in 27 years.  Snow removed from the driveway was 6 feet deep.  I looked out of the front window to see a guy digging down through it to the water meter.  Mine was one of 80 in the city that was not reporting usage to the system and had to be manually read.

Now it is spring and city workers dug up my water meter last week to install a larger box and a check valve.  I had expected a new meter as well.  They said that will come next.  I would guess that the check valve might be double acting?  No reason it could not be made that way I would think.  Therefore it could be controlled from the city utility office to open and close.

Used to be that the cable company had to send a worker out to turn my cable service on and off at a cable box near the house.  Charge me for the manual swith service too.  Years ago they upgraded to the ability to turn it  from the office while I was still on the phone making the request.  No charge to me.

Now the water service, a more physical object service, looks like it will be object managed in the same way/  Interesting to look into what new contract the city might have for this now and what features it offers.

End of 22 March 2017 update.

The city is soliciting public input on the water rate structure.  Among the issues are fairness to users and conservation.  Related to that are fixed and variable charges for water and sewer.

At one time there were no water meters in the city.  Then they were required on new construction.  Then they were fitted to all users customer connections.  A meter reader made monthly rounds to record usage.

Now water meters report consumption via wireless methods.  So do the electric meters.

The water meter transmitting device located on the underside of my water meter box is connected by wire to my water meter. It does not have name plate data but does have two patent numbers.

Patent number 5717084  Filed 1996
Patent number 5617084  Filed 1995

Patent Assignment is to Aclara Technologies LLC :

ACLARA TECHNOLOGIES LLC

9900A CLAYTON ROAD

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63124-1186

This is the link to Aclara Technologies website

Aclara offers hardware and software products for water, gas and electric meter reading systems.  Aclara marketing information is at this link.

Aclara is therefore obviously the supplier of the transmission device connected to my water meter, the network devices (link here)  that carry the signal and the software (link here) that operates to manage the transmitted data. 

Metrum Cellular (link here)  is an Aclara product/service that communicates over a secure VPN operating on the  Verizon public cellular network.  There is a technical fact sheet .pdf at the link explaining its operation.

At this map link the City of Bend is an Aclara customer for its Star Network product.  The city of Redmond is also a customer for unknown Aclara product as well as the Central Electric Cooperative, Redmond.  The Star Network is a suite of product offerings, the extent of Aclara product/service for which the City of Bend contracts is unknown.

The following aside, I call them sidebars in this blog, is interesting in a bigger picture, bigger data way:

In the process of learning about the city water meter system I found that Aclara is one of the management systems of the city mentioned in a Request for Proposals ERP System Solution. Water is only one of the services provided by the city of Bend.  There are many services and service information management systems under the city of Bend.  ERP consolidation related to city service systems is the subject of this link:

"City of Bend, Oregon
Request for Proposals
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Solution
Project # IT14AA
The City of Bend is accepting sealed proposals from qualified firms to furnish and implement an integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System that will support Bend’s staff in the delivery of City of Bend services and activities, take advantage of best practices, and significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Bend’s administrative processes." 

The Aclara system is listed in the Request for Proposals as a system to be integrated with an ERP system.  Other existing systems are to be replaced.

End of aside/sidebar.  Back to the water system. 

Aclara has two communication control points in Bend Oregon:

IG WQKP318
Aclara Technologies LLC
[DATA COLLECTION]
Control Point 1 - 30400 SOLON RD, SOLON OH 440-528-7200
(link)
1 - BEND OR, BEND (DESCHUTES) OR  40.3 km radius around center point (map)
 467.4125   MO    0p    0e    Units: 43000               11K0F1D  


IG WQKY201
Aclara Technologies LLC
[DATA COLLECTION]
Control Point 1 - 30400 SOLON RD, SOLON OH 440-528-7200
(link)
1 - BEND OR, BEND (DESCHUTES) OR  40.3 km radius around center point (map)
 462.4125   MO    0p    0e    Units: 43000               11K0F1D  

The map puts the location pointer on a house near Pilot Butte.  Probably should be on Pilot Butte?

This link contains comments about the implementation of Aclara water metering system in Bend, Oregon:

"In mid-2013, Cashwell’s city department completed a systemwide meter change-out, enabling thousands of hourly meter reports to beam back to headquarters.

“Now you’ve got all this data,” he continues. “You sit back and go, ‘Wow, what are we going to do with all of this?’” With the upgraded system newly finished, Cashwell and his department are exploring advanced meter data management (MDM) software suites that can harness it all and render it into usable, practical reports. The city’s AMI network vendor, Aclara (based in Hazelwood, MO), offered Bend a Web-hosted MDM solution, and has been tentatively selected to provide it."

News report at this link.  Sun Capital Partners Buys Meter and Analytics Firm Alcara for $150 Million:

"Like other AMI providers such as Itron, Elster and Echelon, Aclara was caught up in the fervor to expand its products to maintain stimulus-level revenue around 2010, but has had trouble expanding beyond its load control and [advanced metering infrastructure] businesses......
Aclara’s suite of turnkey consumer engagement solutions is also challenged by various players from Opower to Comverge"

There is a bigger picture view to everything in this blog entry.  Information systems are aggregating in the direction of integrated Big Data..  The internet of things.  It gets closer to the ultimate interface with the end user, you and me, all the time.  Not inside the house yet to the extent of the smart home but it is coming.  How close is it?  The water meter in front of my house and the information system that it is connected to.

Is anybody home at my house?  Real time water meter reading somewhere by somebody says that I just flushed the toilet.  I could also find the same info on an smart phone App that gives me real time water consumption information.

Information system convergence is going toward "Smart Cities" in the internet of things as well a "Smart Homes"  All with various electronic sensors sending monitoring information somewhere for some purpose.