Title
Consider a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an End User License Agreement and a Network Infrastructure Maintenance Agreement with Master Meter for the City's automatic meter reading system.
Body
Several years ago at the beginning discussions about the City’s water metering program, the City made the decision to select Master Meter as the vendor for our transition into a fully Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system. This includes all of the water meters, the infrastructure necessary for transferring the meter data from the meter to a server, and then ultimately transferring the data to a software program where the data can be retrieved and analyzed. Following installation of the infrastructure, Master Meter honored the one-year warranty for all of their infrastructure equipment (base stations and repeaters).
The warranty period has ended and now the City would like to enter into a Maintenance Program Agreement with Master Meter. This agreement will guarantee the integrity of the City’s investment in exchange for an annual fee that covers both parts and labor over the full life-cycle of the Allegro Fixed Network system. This program reduces the total cost of ownership of fixed network AMI by guaranteeing that the Allegro Fixed Network infrastructure will remain in optimal operating condition for the entire span of time the system is in place. All parts, labor, and shipping cost will be covered by Master Meter so that the City will not have to budget for the purchase of the brand-new equipment to replace those that fail. In addition, this agreement commits Master Meter to:
• Scheduled preventive maintenance services conducted every two years by trained Master Meter network technicians.
• Refurbished replacement equipment provided and installed by Master Meter preemptively, or in response to equipment failure, at no additional cost to the utility.
Annual fees are calculated on a per-equipment basis. The City has four base stations and the annual maintenance cost is $5,000 per base station. The City also has five Standard/Solar Repeaters in the system and the annual maintenance cost is $350 per repeater site. Master Meter will hold this annual cost for term of this agreement which is five years.
In addition to the Maintenance Agreement, Master Meter also provides software support to the City. The Harmony Fixed Base Annual Hosting/Support services allows the City to utilize Master Meter’s server to store the meter data, which is then accessible through their software program called Harmony. Harmony allows the City to view the water usage data of our customers, but is not available to the customers to view. The City chose Smart Energy Water (SEW) as the customer portal platform in which customers can view their water usage, as well as pay their utility bill.
The first-year cost for these software services is based on 34,659 endpoints (meters) at 96 cents per endpoint per year. The annual fee charged based on the number of endpoints being read by the Fixed Network System will be determined on October 1st of each year. The annual cost of 96 cents per endpoint will remain the same for the term of this agreement.
The first-year total cost will be $55,022.64 for these maintenance and software services. Each year thereafter will increase only due to the number of additional endpoints (meters) added to the system. The additional endpoints times 96 cents per endpoint will be the added annual cost for years two thru five.
Cost: $285,000
Source of Funds: Utility Fund