Time-of-use rates not city’s intent, official says

9 April 2011
Jean-Sébastien Marier
Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, p. D1

OTTAWA – The City of Ottawa has unveiled new water meters it says will provide residents with a more accurate measure of water consumption and cut maintenance costs.

However, the automated meters could also open the tap on time-of-use rates similar to those proposed for electricity bills.

Ottawa’s existing water meters are read individually by city workers once every four months. This means every other bimonthly bill residents receive is based on an estimate of their water usage.

The new meters will transmit hourly updates to the city using radio frequency transmissions — a technology similar to wireless Internet.

The chair of the city’s environment committee said there is no plan now to charge residents more for water during periods of peak demand.

“I think eventually we could look at that,” councillor Maria McRae added. “But my intention when council voted for (the automated meters) was to get the accurate data, to make it easy for our customers and to avoid the maintenance that we were about to get into.”

Dixon Weir, the city’s director of water and waste water services branch, confirmed that time-of-use rates will be technically feasible with the new system, but said “it’s not the intent at this point.”

The two-story house of Innes ward Councillor Rainer Bloess served as the backdrop for Thursday’s announcement. His Blackburn Hamlet home is the first to receive the automated meter, which costs $85 a unit.

The grey plastic box is a little bit smaller than a VHS tape and is installed by a technician in a few minutes. “From a resident’s perspective (the installation was) easy, painless, straightforward,” Bloess said.

Bloess’s neighbours on Burnview Crescent received news of the new meters with mixed reactions.

“I’m against that, too much control by Big Brother,” said Wayne Morris, his wife, Judy, standing by his side.

The couple worry that city officials will try to control their water consumption.

Just a few doors down, Karen Fleming welcomed the improved water measurement.

“People have to learn to cut back and look at water as a valuable resource,” she said.

The first automated water meters will be installed in 1,500 Blackburn Hamlet houses and other buildings in the coming weeks. The city hopes to equip all of its 210,000 water customers with the new technology within two years.

The project will cost $28.4 million. City officials hope to make most of that money back by eliminating the need for door-to-door meter reading, but couldn’t provide firm numbers.

A 2006 report to the planning and environment committee estimated the savings to reach more than $20 million over the next 20 years.