The city of Jackson is moving ahead with its plan to replace residential water meters.
The city expects to take possession of the first batch of new residential water meters this month, said Carla Dazet, deputy director of the city’s Public Works Administration.
Some commercial and a few residential meters that had to be replaced have already been replaced, she said.
Utility Metering Solutions (UMS) expects to spend about 15 months installing new residential meters that will replace defective ones throughout the city. It is also installing an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system that will receive data from the water meters and transmit it to the billing software.
The new AMI system has fewer pieces of equipment, which should make it a more reliable system than the one it is replacing, Dazet said. Data from a meter can be received by more than one piece of equipment, which was not the case with the AMI system being replaced.
The city is divided into 17 water billing cycles and meters will be replaced according to the billing cycle that a residence falls in, Dazet said.
A UMS employee will replace the existing meter at a residence during the standard business hours of 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Service will be interrupted for 15-20 minutes while the old meter is removed.
“There will be a door tag left behind stating that your meter was switched out,” Dazet said.
After a new meter is installed, service will be restored if it was on before the installation. If service is off at a residence, it will remain off after a new meter is installed.
Should the water to a residence be discolored after a new meter is installed, a resident should turn on the cold water inside the house or an outside water hose and run it.
About 2,880 residents have signed up for the new water billing customer portal, Dazet said. “We’ve seen 200 to 300 people a day sign up,” she said.
The portal, which can be accessed via a cell phone or tablet, will allow a customer to check on water usage and view his or her current bill and billing history. A customer can pay his or her water bill with a credit card, set up automatic payments and contact the water department via email.
“Eventually, customers will be able to start and stop their own service should they move,” Dazet said.
Some customers experienced trouble signing up for the portal because the system validated accounts using a customer’s Social Security number, she said. That has since been changed so that accounts are validated according to a customer’s ZIP code.
Jackson residents will still have the option to pay their water bill via phone, mail, at one of the alternative payment locations or in person.
Anyone with any billing issues should contact the Water Sewer Billing Administration at 601-960-2000 or send an email to wsba.jackson.ms.gov.
Dazet said the city began making plans to replace the meters and billing system in October 2020 and the work will continue through May 2023.
In February 2020, the city reached a $89.8-million settlement with Siemens and subcontractors related to their faulty work on water-sewer infrastructure and billing system.
