halifax water to spend close to $300,000 on new website - digital distance measurement meter

HALIFAX—
Halifax Water awarded OPIN Software a contract of nearly $300,000 to build and host a new website for the utility.
The $274,196 project will move Halifax Water's online services from the municipal website to its own domain and create an architecture that can eventually be extended to integrate with its smart meter project.
As stated in the request for proposals, this is the first of the three phase projects that create the site, which will provide the customer with hourly reports of operational and transaction data, allow people to monitor their usage habits.
The utility is setting up what it calls a Customer Connection program that will see them install 83,000 smart meters in the service area, allowing them to monitor the meter remotely.
Halifax Water said the project will improve service delivery and reduce the number of vehicles sent out to check the meter.
Customer connectivity includes the installation of a digital meter that will communicate wirelessly with Halifax's water, eliminating the need to send employees to their homes to read physical meters.
They say it will also improve leak detection and stop estimating readings when employees are unable to actually access the meter due to weather.