Water Meter Upgrade Project

Water meter upgrades will begin in February 2024

Water meters in all homes and businesses will be updated by 2026
Book your appointment
Booking instructions will be located on your mailed Appointment Notice.
You cannot book your upgrade appointment until you are notified that KTI Utility Services technicians are in your area.

We are excited to announce a major upgrade to the water meter system in the City of Brantford! As part of our commitment to providing the best services to our customers, we are implementing a mandatory Water Meter Upgrade Project. 

Upgrade benefits

This upgrade will offer many benefits, including:

Enhance water usage monitoring
Customers can now monitor their water usage hourly to detect leaks or high usage.
Reduce costs
Identifying leaks or high usage gives you an opportunity for timely maintenance of your plumbing fixtures.
More efficient billing
Improved billing accuracy will reduce the need for estimated billing, which will give you more accurate and useful information.
Enhance water distribution system management
Improved accuracy of water consumption data and detection of backflow issues will lead to more efficient operation and maintenance of our water distribution system.
Reduce water loss
Monitoring water usage patterns will help identify water theft, tampering and leaks.
Reduce the impact of climate change
Additionally, the new system aims to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by eliminating the need to drive vehicles to each property for monthly manual meter reading and reduce energy usage by reducing water loss and modifying pumping strategy based on customer demand patterns.

Background

The City maintains more than 35,000 water meters located in various residential, industrial, commercial and institutional properties. At each property, there is typically a touchpad connected to the water meter for manual meter reading. The touchpad is generally located on the outside of a building, often near the electrical meter. 

Once a month, a meter reader visits each property to collect a reading from the touchpad using a handheld device. Water meter readings are used by the City to calculate water and sewer usage.

The City of Brantford is transitioning from manual water meter reading to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system. AMI is an integrated system of water meters, low-power radio frequency transmitters, data collectors and software that enables automatic collection of water meter readings. AMI technology for water is similar to electricity metering technology, which has been in place in Brantford since 2010.

Once completed, the AMI system will provide Brantford water customers access to their hourly water usage, billing, alerts and notifications through the City’s web portal. 

How AMI technology works:

  • The water meter measures water usage and data is stored in the meter register
  • The radio transmitter encrypts data from the register and sends it wirelessly to a network of data collectors
  • The data collectors relay the data to the City’s host software, and the City uses the data to create utility bills
  • The water usage information is made available to customers through the City’s online customer portal