How Does WCSA Read My Water Meter?

In 1999, WCSA switched all of our water meters over to a radio meter reading system which allows us to read your meter as we drive by your home. Many large utilities are already switching over to radio meter reading, because it provides cheaper more accurate readings and makes monthly billing feasible even for utilities with many customers.

WCSA is among the first water works in this region to upgrade to radio meter reading technology. Before the new system was installed, it took six meter readers about 2 months to read all 19,000 of our meters, which only allowed us to send our customers a bill every other month. Now one meter technician can read all of our meters in only 6 days each month, which allows us to send customers a monthly bill. Whereas manual meter reading cost WCSA $1.09 per meter reading, radio meter reading costs us only $0.13 per meter reading.

How Does Radio Meter Reading Work?

On your water meter’s dial, a register records the number of gallons of water that you use. Attached to the meter’s register is a small transmitter device that is able to send radio signals to our meter readers’ computers.

When a WCSA meter reader drives by, the computer in our vehicle sends a “wake-up” signal to the transmitter. The transmitter then reads the number of gallons on the meter’s register and transmits a digital radio signal that is sent to the computer along with your meter’s identification number. The computer stores this information in its memory.

This all happens within milliseconds without the meter reader ever having to stop. At the end of the day, the meter readings are uploaded into our computer billing system, and we send you a bill for your last month’s usage.

WCSA’s Auto Read program generates reports of several groups of customers. One report is comprised of customers whose water usage is 20,000 gallons or higher for a month. If possible WCSA will notify customers on this report in case of a leak. The program also generates a report of those whose usage registers as 0 gallons, as this can be indicative of a malfunctioning meter.