5.2 ERMUSR 04-09-2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ji Elk River amft . Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Mark Hanson —General Manager MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: April 9, 2024 5.2 SUBJECT: Private line repair costs for AMI project ACTION REQUESTED: • Approve funding of specific private utility line repairs through AMI project duration • Direction on commission interest for future discussion of a water service line fund BACKGROUND: ERMU's Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project will replace approximately 13,500 electric meters and 5,000 water meters. Our installation contractor, Allegiant Services, Inc., has informed us some residential properties may require repairs to private utility infrastructure before the meter can be replaced. They noted the most common electrical repair was the repair or replacement of the meter box. Similarly, the most common water repair was the installation or replacement of an in -home shut-off valve. Allegiant stated most utilities view repairing/replacing residential meter boxes and shutoff valves as the "cost of doing business" when taking on system -wide meter replacement projects. Additionally, these types of repairs typically involve older homes with owners who may have limited resources - making it difficult for them to absorb these unexpected costs. Consequently, Allegiant has observed that the utilities who choose to absorb the costs for these repairs have better scheduling response, fewer complaints, and higher overall customer satisfaction throughout the project. DISCUSSION: To affirm Allegiant's recommendations, Staff contacted two similar municipal utilities: Austin Utilities and Owatonna Public Utilities. Both utilities are undergoing AMI projects similar in size and scope to our project. Staff from both utilities confirmed they chose to absorb the reasonable repair costs related to residential water and electric meter replacements. They also confirmed absorbing these costs resulted in fewer complaints and quicker resolution of issues so the project could keep moving forward. For electric meters, Austin and Owatonna reported it was rare to replace the entire meter box. Rather, most deficiencies could be repaired by their respective staff, using stocked parts. A licensed electrical contractor was used for larger efforts. They advised that stocking a dozen or so meter box kits (parts and housing) would likely be sufficient. Page 1 of 2