Boerne, Texas, Utilities
In a world where the average consumer knows at least something about the “smart grid,” many municipal utilities search for solutions that give their residential customers access to (and even a modicum of control over) their energy usage in order to conserve and save money. Boerne, Texas, is a prime example.
DownloadBoerne, Texas: The little utility that could
Nestled in the Texas Hill Country 22 miles northwest of San Antonio, Boerne (pronounced “burr-nee”) is
a small city of more than 16,000 residents, many of whom commute to work in the larger city. Lured by its small-town charm and proximity to San Antonio, the influx of new residents is predicted to double Boerne’s population over the next few years.
The city’s Utilities Department offers the following services to its residents:
- Electricity
- Natural gas
- Water/sewer
However, Boerne is surrounded by large electric utilities, and in fact, most new residents of the city get their electricity from one of those entities. All Boerne residents get their gas and water from the city.
The Problem: Surrounded by electric utilities, striving to provide data to residential customers
Boerne Utilities began to invest in AMI technology more than eight years ago. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is an integrated system of smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems that enables two-way communication between utilities and customers. Moving to AMI would provide the city with more accurate, timely data – which they intended to integrate into the utility customer billing system. AMI meters would not need to be read manually on a monthly basis, but would transmit data at least daily.
The larger electric providers that surround Boerne, like AEP and Bandera Electric Co-Op, had invested in this technology, and many Boerne residents began to experience the benefit of seeing their usage data in an easy-to-understand format. Those residents would naturally expect something similar for their natural gas and water usage, which was provided by Boerne Utilities.
For a small municipal utility to keep pace with their larger neighbors required a significant investment of time and money. In order to keep costs lower, Boerne Utilities performed all AMI meter installation in- house – with a staff of three meter technicians. The goal: AMI connectivity for all municipal residential electrical, natural gas and water meters. Keeping the work in-house enabled Boerne to lower their up- front costs by spreading the installation across multiple budget cycles.
The result: nearly 15,000 residential meters installed over the course of four years.
Jill Christian, Customer Care & Accounts Administrator for Boerne Utilities, spearheaded the project. She estimated that Boerne now has AMI metering for 5,538 electric meters, 2,500 natural gas meters and 5,415 water meters. She noted that with the city’s population expected to double in just a few years, new home construction is increasing; and with that increase, more and more water and gas meters are coming into the Boerne Utilities system. In fact, residential water currently is the fastest-growing part of the city’s utility system.
As the AMI installation process moved forward, Christian and her staff grappled with the technical aspects of harnessing the newfound data and channeling it into the city’s billing system. Integrating the data into the utility’s Client Information System (CIS) proved problematic, as well as the process of automating the data collection. After another four years of often times frustrating work, Christian and her staff knew they needed to look outside for answers.
The Solution: AEI provides dashboard and app for customers’ energy management
Enter Automated Energy Inc. Christian had met representatives from AEI at municipal energy conferences over the years. They sought proposals from several outside vendors, which tended to be prohibitively expensive. Christian turned to AEI for answers.
AEI representatives assessed the Boerne systems, and crafted a customized solution to harness their AMI data. Using AEI’s Home Energy Manager (HEM), an industry-leading tool that provides sophisticated energy analytics for utilities of any size, AEI worked with Boerne and created a dashboard and app that enable residential customers to easily check their utility/energy usage and take an active role in their own energy management. For example, customers have ability to set up alerts on how much spend, so they can be proactive consumers.
As Boerne’s meter replacement program neared its completion, the city faced the task of harnessing the data their system was generating and make it usable for their customers.
With AEI’s help, Boerne Utilities’ AMI data was leveraged to benefit residential customers and the city in a system rapidly becoming truly automated. Residential meter data feeds into the Boerne CIS, where it integrates with the city billing system. In addition, that same data feeds the custom AEI dashboard through HEM.
The next step: Place that data at the fingertips of residential customers, allowing them to take an active role in their energy consumption and management.
AEI developed a white-label smartphone app that Boerne branded as Home Energy Manager. The app allows residential customers to view their consumption and cost information on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Customers can now analyze their past usage trends by comparing previous billing cycles, as well as look at a dynamic forecast for the remainder of the month for consumption and billing.
The Results: Low-cost, painless
AEI provided Boerne with state-of-the-art technology for customer engagement at very low cost, with a relatively painless onboarding process. Their AMI data tamed and purposefully redirected, Boerne now can look to the future with a customer base that is engaged and an active participant in seeking efficiency and cost savings. The city pays AEI an annual fee for Home Energy Manager.
Jill Christian sees the benefit from both sides.
“I am a customer myself,” she said. “The ease of the dashboard is just amazing. You click on the app or on your computer, and the first thing that comes up is just what I’m looking for. You sign in, and it’s right there.”
From the perspective of Boerne Utilities there is a great deal of satisfaction.
“The dashboard and app did exactly what we wanted,” Christian said, adding that the level of customer service they receive from AEI is outstanding.
“The AEI staff is unbelievable. They feel like friends now, and I can call any of them,” she said. “I can email them a ‘stupid’ question but they never make me feel that way. AEI hired the most knowledgeable, friendly people I’ve ever met. I never got that feeling from other companies.”
Cody Graves, AEI President, was confident they could craft a solution that would work for Boerne – or any other municipal utility that wants to travel down the AMI road.
“For Boerne, we were able to give a small utility a state-of-the-art solution for their customers at a relatively low cost and made it easy as possible for them to get off the ground,” Graves said.
“Organizations get overwhelmed, they get lost. We want our utility partners to know there are very reasonable alternatives – enhancements that bring additional value to that investment they’ve made in their metering system.”
AEI has solutions for municipal and investor-owned utilities, as well as commercial property owners interested in managing peak usage and energy rates in a variety of settings. If you are interested in how AEI can help you, please contact Jeff Godwin at 866-421-1234 or visit automatedenergy.com.