RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The City of Long Beach, which sits just 22 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, is routinely rated as one of the most walkable cities in the country. Years ago, meter readers were among these walkers, going from house to house to collect usage readings. More recently, new technologies and a growing population have changed the face of gas service delivery to residents and businesses in the eight neighborhood districts that the city serves.
The journey to technological advancement began with the adoption of a mesh network that allowed communication between the city and more than 156,000 meters via publicly available spectrum. The system opened the doors for remote meter monitoring and management but failed to meet growing security requirements. To address current needs, boost efficiency and establish tools for future growth, the city transitioned to a next-generation advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution from Sensus, a Xylem brand.
In 2014, the city deployed the Sensus AMI solution with R-275 and 415 gas meters and the SmartPoint® GM transceiver to serve customers. Running on the two-way FlexNet® communication network, the system enables reliable end-to-end communications and data integrity over a radio spectrum that is protected from interference. The network solution has proven dependable and accurate for the city from the start.
“In the five years since we installed the system, we’ve had outstanding read rate success across our Sensus meters,” said Long Beach Energy Resources Business Operations Analyst Renee Williams. “Consistently accurate data is a huge asset, particularly when you combine that with the extra privacy it ensures for our customers.”
With its sizable university population, Long Beach service technicians used to make frequent trips to address the ever-changing student population. The new system has helped the city address this time-consuming process with on-demand capabilities.
“We’ve eliminated about 80 truck rolls per-day using the AMI solution,” said Williams. “We now have a soft-off policy that allows staff to monitor meters remotely as residents transition between properties, saving us two trips to manually shut down and re-start the meter.”
Read the full case study to learn more about Long Beach Energy Resources deployment of the AMI gas solution and how they plan to expand its use for residential and commercial water customers.
About Sensus
Sensus helps a wide range of public service providers—from utilities to cities to industrial complexes and campuses—do more with their infrastructure to improve quality of life in their communities. We enable our customers to reach farther through the application of technology and data-driven insights that deliver efficiency and responsiveness. We partner with them to anticipate and respond to evolving business needs with innovation in sensing and communications technologies, data analytics and services. Learn more at sensus.com and follow @SensusGlobal on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
About Xylem
Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative technology solutions to the world’s water challenges. The Company’s products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residential and commercial building services settings. Xylem also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water, electric and gas utilities. The Company’s approximately 17,000 employees bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, with 2018 revenue of $5.2 billion, Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.
The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all – that which occurs in nature. For more information, please visit us at www.xylem.com.
