ITEM:		ACTION ITEM
16.	CONSIDER ADOPTION OF POLICY ON SMART WATER METER INSTALLATION
Meeting Date:			May 18, 2020	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			David J. Stoldt	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378.

SUMMARY: The MPWMD Board was notified of the various aspects of the Cal-Am 2021-23 General Rate Case (GRC), including Advanced Metering Infrastructure or AMI, in a confidential memorandum written by the District’s General Counsel to the Board dated June 12, 2019 in advance of the June 17, 2019 District Board meeting.  General Counsel and staff received direction to participate in the GRC proceedings. Closed sessions were thereafter held by the Board pursuant to Gov’t Code § 54956.9 in relation to the pending GCR litigation to provide updates, hear questions and to receive general board direction on July 15, 2019, September 16, 2019 and October 21, 2019. 

CPUC Decision 16-12-026 in 2016 ordered the “commencement of a transition to the use of AMI for Class A and B water services to increase data for customer and operational use, produce conservation signals through real-time data delivery, improve water management, reduce leaks, and promote equity and sustainability.”  The CPUC previously authorized two AMI pilot projects in its Monterey and Ventura districts.

The Cal-Am GRC testimony in support of AMI is be included here as Exhibit 16-A.

In its current General Rate Case (GRC) filing for years 2021-2023, California American Water (Cal-Am) has requested a full AMI program for its Ventura and Central Divisions, including Monterey. The District has supported AMI because of the potential to provide customers greater information and control over their water usage. There are other benefits including meter accuracy, high usage alerts, lower meter reading costs, and backflow and theft detection.

Some customers have expressed concerns about these types of meters and do not want to participate. During pilot studies, one pilot was designed as an “opt-in” rather than “opt-out”, which reduced customer participation. Hence, District staff supports an opt-out program in order to achieve greater customer participation.

As part of the GRC Cal-Am is asking to be authorized to implement an opt-out program and to recover the costs of opting out from those customers choosing to do so. That is similar to what the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) authorized for energy utilities in 2014. Cal-Am is proposing opt-out customers be charged an initial fee of $70.00 and a monthly charge of $13.00 per month to not participate in AMI. The upfront costs were based on service order drive time and service time and an average meter technician rate. The monthly costs are based on the costs to manually read the opt-out meters.

RECOMMENDATION: The General Manager recommends the Board of Directors reaffirm the District’s position in favor of installation of AMI, and to support a full opt-out AMI program in the Monterey system, but discuss and decide if it should promote a policy in the District’s GRC testimony as to who should bear the cost burden of the opt-out.

EXHIBIT

16-A Cal-Am Testimony on AMI from Current General Rate Case

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