New Cranberry Water Meters Won't Cause Overbilling

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA - Don’t expect the overbilling problems that arose when Pittsburgh replaced its water meters a few years ago to surface in Cranberry now that the township is installing its own new meters.

Township manager Jerry Andree said Cranberry won’t repeat the the problem-plagued Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority’s mistakes as it completes a $3.5 million project to replace more than 8,000 older residential and commercial meters. The replacement meters are state-of-the-art remotely read digital units.

“What about Pittsburgh’s experience -- didn’t they have people getting astronomical water bills and a chorus of complaint about their new meters?” Andree said. “Yes. And we’ve learned from it.”

For more than a year after the Pittsburgh meters were installed, some customers received bills for thousands of dollars when their typical monthly water bills were $100 or less. Why is Andree confident the same situation won’t occur in Cranberry?

“Pittsburgh used meters and accessories from different vendors that didn’t play nice with each other,” he said. “A lot of them weren’t installed right, and there were problems with radio signals not reaching where they should.”

Andree said Cranberry is getting its meter technology from the same sources and is setting and enforcing standards for installers. Each unit is tested on-site to make certain it works.

Andree said the new digital water meters are far superior to the analog ones being replaced.

“They are paired with a transmitter on an outside wall of the home that sends the customer’s usage data into the township office every day,” he said. “That means no estimated bills to pay, no meter reader tromping through your flower bed and no guesswork about how much water you’re using.”

Residents even will be able to track their water consumption online in near-real time in the near future.

“Overall, it should be a better customer experience,” Andree said.

Photo by Steve Johnson via Creative Commons.