From Kingsport Customer Service: Water Meter Update
Kingsport plans to spend $3 million this year to replace 14,500 water meters throughout the city, some of which have suffered from failing batteries in recent months.
The failing batteries have resulted in inconsistencies in some customers’ water bills. City employees are working to address the issue and are assuring people the amount of water being billed is correct.
Kingsport installed new water meters in 2009 that allowed a vehicle to drive by and get a reading on each meter, rather than sending an employee out to manually read the meter. This was a more efficient and safer way to read water meters.
However, over the past 18 months the batteries in many water meters started to fail, which meant the vehicle was not picking up the reading.
“The battery powers a radio, which sends a signal to the passing vehicle. It allows us to drive by and get a meter reading,” said Chad Austin, assistant utility director for the city. “Those meters are still registering the correct water usage. We just can no longer receive the signal.”
As a result of not being able to receive a signal, the city has been sending employees out to visually read the meters with failing batteries.
In an attempt to get water bills out in a timely manner, Kingsport initially estimated water usage for some customers who had meters with failing batteries. That is no longer the case, Austin explains.
“One month, your bill will be the minimum amount and the next month it will be from a visual reading,” Austin said. “Our goal is to put eyes on every meter, every other month, until the meters are replaced.”
For example – your January bill would be for the minimum amount. Then in February, your meter would be read and you would be charged for the water you used in January and February, minus the minimum amount you paid in January.
Kingsport is spending $2.5 million this year on 14,500 new water meters. To date, city crews have replaced 4,500 and a third-party contractor has been hired to replace another 10,000 at a cost of $500,000. The contractor has already replaced 3,500 since January 3, 2021.
All of these water meters should be replaced by the end of June, Austin said.
These new water meters will be read by radio off an antenna on Bays Mountain. Kingsport will be able to get readings from these meters daily, instead of manually reading the meters or driving by in a vehicle. Kingsport also plans to implement a meter replacement plan in the future to avoid these same type of issues.
The City of Kingsport would like to apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any further questions about your water bill, please call customer service at 423-343-9860 or visit www.kingsporttn.gov.
