A Water Conservation Solution for Utilities
To help utilities, especially those in drought stricken areas like California, encourage their customers to save water and meet drought reduction goals, AmCoBi is offering individualized, print/e-mail Water Use Reports in combination with its advanced customer portal solution, AquaHawk.
This service is specifically for water providers that gather reads every 30 or 60 days using manual, handheld, or drive-by Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems.
Targeted Water Use Reports
Water Use Reports are sent to utility customers who:
- Are using water inefficiently
- Have exceeded utility-specified water budgets or conservation targets
- Are candidates for utility-sponsored conservation programs.
The Reports show customers how their water usage compares to "conservation standards" or "drought reduction targets" (e.g. 25%) currently mandated by the CA Water Board. They show how an account compares to similar users--those with equivalent landscape areas and numbers of occupants--leveraging the power of social proof to encourage water efficiency.
They highlight available water conservation programs--e.g. rebates and home water audits--and describe other ways consumers can save. They even allow water suppliers to send custom messages and announcements.
Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order mandating that Californians reduce urban water use 25% compared with 2013 levels.
Communities with the highest per-capita water usage numbers during that period will have to chop consumption by 36%.
--LA Times
The Reports are affordable, targeted at those consumers who need assistance, and are proven to save measurable amounts of water. Delivered monthly or bimonthly, they will have a positive impact on driving higher levels of customer engagement and satisfaction.
The Reports and the portal are customizable to meet the branding or "look-and-feel requirements" of your organization.
Customer-Entered Meter Reads
AquaHawk offers a unique and novel way for motivated consumers to manually inspect their water meters and enter reads into the portal, as many times as they want during the billing cycle.
The system analyzes the customer-entered reads and measures how the account is doing compared to a conservation target. If the customer's usage is trending to exceed the limit, the system will automatically send a text message, e-mail, or make an automated phone call.
AquaHawk is the only solution currently available that enables utilities with first and second generation metering equipment to provide some "smart meter" network capabilities to their clients.
New California Reporting Requirements
Encouraging customers to save water is just the beginning. Starting July 15, 2015, water providers will have to report to the State on how they're doing. The following metrics will be required:
- Monthly potable water production
- Residential gallons per capita per day (R-GPCD)
- Compliance and enforcement efforts.
AquaHawk assists utilities in meeting the reporting requirements and tracks how they're doing month by month.
Promote Online Payment & Paperless Billing Services
If your utility offers online payment or paperless billing services, buttons within the AquaHawk portal can be linked to those sites, encouraging customers to use them. Single sign-on integration can be enabled so users don't have to login multiple times.
If you don't have an online payment or paperless billing provider and need one, please contact us.
See an Online Demonstration
To see a brief online video demonstration, click here.
To schedule a full online Web demonstration that shows the comprehensive capabilities that AquaHawk offers, contact us. It takes about 30 mins. and you can view the demo from any computer with an Internet connection.