Audit Report on the Reliability and Accuracy of the Automated Meter Reading Data Administered by the Department of Environmental Protection

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) protects the environmental health, welfare, and natural resources of the City.  DEP manages the City’s water supply, which provides more than one billion gallons of high quality drinking water daily to more than half the population of New York State, and maintains the City’s water distribution network, fire hydrants, and storm and sanitary sewage collection systems.  DEP also bills and collects on approximately 836,000 water and sewer accounts and manages citywide water conservation programs.

DEP contracted with Aclara Systems¹ from July 7, 2008, to July 12, 2013, to implement the Citywide Advanced Metering Infrastructure Program for the Automated Meter Readers (AMR) in the amount of $68,327,500.  Under the terms of its contract, Aclara Systems provides the design, installation, and modification of the Aclara software.  In addition, the contract includes the purchase of AMR Meter Transmission Units (MTU) and Data Collection Units (DCU) equipment.  DEP’s mission for AMR installation was to eliminate estimated billing, improve billing accuracy, and provide customers with tools to manage their water usage online.  The contract was extended to July 14, 2014.

Audit Findings and Conclusion

We found that the AMR data transmission from the AMR device to the AMR database is accurate and secure.  However, we found several water meter issues that could affect billing.

We noted that the installation of the AMR, originally scheduled to be completed by September 2012, has not been completed.  Approximately 33,463 water meters (about 4 percent) still do not have AMR installed and those customers are on estimated billing. In addition, 19,315 of the 33,463 had failed attempts to install AMR due to vacant property or large old meters incompatible with the AMR system. The remaining meters are AMR ready, but have not been installed.  We also noted 17,094 of the 818,176 installed meters are currently on estimated billing due to reading issues or no communication with AMR.

Water meters tend to deteriorate with age; therefore, many older meters do not record water usage or submit inaccurate readings.  As a result, incorrect information is being transmitted for billing.  DEP has replaced most of the small meters that pre-dated 1998 due to incompatibility with AMR.  However, the audit found that DEP does not have an aging report for meters to identify meters that are older and may need to be replaced, although its database has the elements available for such a report.

Finally, the audit determined that DEP does not have a disaster recovery plan for the DCUs in case of an unexpected event.

Audit Recommendations

This report makes a total of nine recommendations, including that DEP should:

• Create a standardized timeline for completion of the installation of AMR on all water meters.
• Ensure AMR issues are resolved in an adequate timeframe.
• Replace outdated water meters as soon as practical to enable AMR installation.
• Ensure that information for new meters and AMR installed are immediately entered and updated into DEP’s database for billing.
• Develop an aging report to assist in making cost benefit decisions regarding replacement of older meters.
• Ensure DEP staff updates the status of RTS cases after work is performed.
• Ensure AMR cases are resolved in a reasonable timeframe.
• Develop a disaster recovery plan for DCUs.
• Immediately repair DCUs currently not functioning.

DEP Response

In their response, DEP officials agreed with the report’s findings and recommendations and described the steps they have taken or will take to implement them.