Albany commissioners move forward with $20M AMI project

On Friday, Albany City Commissioners voted unanimously to make a $20 million investment in Albany Utilities.

Commissioners authorized moving forward with a lease agreement with Regions Capital Advantage, Inc. to install Advanced Metering Infrastructure Equipment.

"This is the single largest investment in infrastructure made by the Mayor and Commissioners towards utilities," said City Manager Sharon Subadan. "They should be commended for this approval."

Finance Director Derrick Brown says AMI will provide real time data on user's utilities, including electric, water, and gas meters.

This means users will be able to see what they're paying for each day and what their day-to-day consumption looks like.

"Individuals will have real time access to their utility usage, they'll be able to monitor that on a daily basis instead of waiting until the end of the month to see what their utility cost will be, they will be able to see that on a day-to-day basis," said Brown.

Brown says the contract has not been finalized yet, although the city will start having to make payments 12 months from Friday, December 14.

The total project cost is $20.8 million and the terms are for six years with a fixed interest rate of 2.93 percent. A down payment will be made with $2.5 million in MEAG credits, which will leave $18.3 million to be financed.

Public Information Officer Monique Broughton says AMI will incorporate much more than electricity; it will also include gas, water and LED streetlights.

Meters for gas, water and electric will all provide communication through smart meters.

All the data will be transmitted to a Meter Data Management system, which is software that performs long-term data storage and management for the vast quantities of data delivered by the smart meters.