“Most of them have failed outright and can be considered undependable,” CUC deputy director for the water division Bruce Meagar said.
These were the meters installed in 2004 and 2005, he said, adding that 98 percent of their customers have these meters.
He said they started seeing failures within months after the meters were installed.
Julie Camacho, CUC water division customer service officer, said they have been receiving complaints from customer about their water billings based on an estimate rather than on an actual reading of the meter.
But Meagar doesn’t believe that the meters were being tampered.
“It was a new design — but without proper testing,” he said.
Meagar said Severn Trent Service, the vendor of the meters, have already delivered new ones.
The vendor was able to identify the problem with the meters, he added.
Meagar doesn’t believe that CUC’s water revenue losses due to the defective meters are significant.
He said CUCs continues to replace an average of 150 defective meters a week.
CUC had so far replaced 1,600 meters with the new SmartMeter from Seven Trent Services, he said.
The new meter was designed to conform to the American Water Works Association specifications where appropriate.
