Smart Water Meters Take Root in Texas Cities
ROUND ROCK — Early one recent morning, Buddy Franklin and a team of utility workers descended on the Rock Hollow neighborhood in this Austin suburb. They went from house to house with one mission: to install new electronic water meters that change how the city records, and bills for, water use.
“They won’t see another meter reader for a long time,” Franklin said as his team dug through loose dirt at the homes to replace the old meters.
Similar scenes are playing out across Texas. The installation of electronic water meters is meant to cut costs and save water. The ...
Comments (5)
Sidney Lambert III via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Things unused-room air conditioner gives several gallons of condensate water per day. Central units can fill a kiddie pool. Happy gardening.
namoyer
WTF! Homeowner just needs to get off their ass, go out front, and read own meter to keep track of use. Smart meters are costly, too. That's just dumb! Another gummint boondoggle. How many electricity users are reading their own smart meters?? Bogus!
John F Yeaman
Like electric smart meters these water ones put low skill people OUT OF WORK! So long as we have mediocre school results despite great teachers, due to poor funding, we will have workers that have limited abilities. We as a society owe it to them to have jobs where thy can earn enough to live well. When we fund public schools at excellence levels, more will graduate, be smarter, able to earn higher wages.
Viola Perry
Now we cannot see when the energy supplier steals kwh from us. I saw that with the old meter. Every day between 6 and 7 PM the meter ran at max. speed though nothing was on in the house. The water faucet was right below the meter so I noticed and since I worked for an energy conservation officer I knew how to read meters. I told my husband and I turned off the breaker and when I turned it off it would run as it should have. Then I called customer service and got someone in Manila who told me that someone is stealing from me which is impossible since I live very remote. Then they installed the smart meters but I know the TXU Company was stealing from me. And this morning I read an article that in Britain the energy companies were doing just that.
Viola Perry
You cannot read your smart meter.