The Western Australian Government has announced the completion of the first stage of a trial to install and monitor new smart meters in 24 households in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

 

State Water Minister Bill Marmion said he was impressed with the new water meters, noting that they were assisting Water Corporation customers to save water and detect leaks.

 

“Smart meters record water use every hour, which means the corporation can detect any unusual increases in demand and inform the customer to check for potential leaks,” Mr Marmion said.


“During the trial, the corporation detected a water leak at a property, and this not only saved precious water going to waste but also the customer an increase of about $120 on their next water bill.”


The Minister said work to install all households in Kalgoorlie-Boulder with a smart meter had almost been completed.

 

“Devices called ‘collectors’ are being installed that will transfer data from the smart meters and feed it back to the corporation. These works are due to be completed by mid-November and the whole trial to be finished by mid-2012,” Mr Marmion said.


Mr Marmion said following the trial the new smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure would become the corporation’s normal operation for Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The total cost of the project is $4million which is a combination of Water Corporation and Federal grant funding.