NW Illinois News

City of Dixon issued the following announcement on Aug. 23.

The City of Dixon is replacing all residential and commercial water meters with Sensus iPERL water meters.The new iPERL meters will allow the City to install Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) that will provide better customer service, reduced operational costs and provide greater access to data. These new meters will automatically transmit readings wirelessly, meaning the City can be more efficient and reduce water system costs by preventing manual device recording errors and eliminating time-consuming manual meter reading altogether. The City will also be changing over to monthly billing from quarterly billing with the installation of the new meters. After the new meters are installed customers will be transitioned to monthly billing at the end of their quarterly cycle.

Dixon water customers will be contacted in order to set up an appointment to receive a new water meter. The City has awarded the installation contract to United Meters, Inc. of Morris, Ill. to perform this meter upgrade. United Meters will need access to each Dixon home and business to replace the meter and will work with each household to arrange a convenient appointment to complete this task.

Installation of the new meters will be conducted at no cost to customers.

About the Sensus iPerl Meter and AMI System

The City selected Sensus and the iPERL meter due to their experience and excellent performance record, and benefits their system provides to the City. Each iPERL meter is covered by a factory-backed 20-year warranty.The iPERL water meters accurately measure and record water usage data and then wirelessly transmits the data to City Hall. Utilizing this new system, meter readings will be collected on a daily basis, as opposed to the current quarterly data collection frequency. By collecting meter reading information more frequently both the City and its customers will be alerted to abrupt or abnormal changes in water usage much earlier than previously possible.Communities that have installed iPERL meters include: Tinley Park, Orland Park, Oak Forest, Homewood, Palos Park, Palos Hills, Palos Heights, Frankfort, Spring Grove, Joliet, Aurora, Palatine, Buffalo Grove, New Lenox and Glenview.

Water Meter Installers

When a UMI employee comes to change out a water meter, they will knock on the door and show the homeowner the identification card issued to them by the City of Dixon. All UMI employees will have this City ID in their possession. UMI employees also drive vehicles that have the "UMI" corporate logo on them. Citizens are encouraged to call City Hall at 815-288-1485 if they have questions about UMI installers.

Installation Timeframe:

The Meter Replacement Project will take approximately 9 to 12 months to complete, installation is expected to begin in September 2018.

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https://www.discoverdixon.org/news/2018-water-meter-replacement-project.html