Customer Connection

A Note From Colin Sabol:
Customer First

You've heard me talk about our three Cs: Compelling Solutions, Continuous Improvement and Customer First. I want to highlight how we're moving forward with Customer First and share some of our initiatives in that area of focus for 2019.

I'm proud of our latest solution in electricity metering, the Stratus IQ™ meter, which offers our customers better capabilities for power management, cost-efficiency and safety. It has commercial and industrial strength in a residential meter and we've engineered it to be the most robust meter in the market.

As we push our solutions forward, hearing what you want to see in new products and services is invaluable. Through SPAN, the Sensus Partner and Advisor Network, we gather this information from customers on what product features and benefits are necessary to their success. We then work with customers throughout the product design process and rely on our customers for alpha and beta prior to the official product launch.

To help us focus on compelling solutions, we recently aligned the Marketing, Engineering and Solutions functions within the Sensus organization and welcomed Steve Toteda as our new Vice President of Marketing and Technology. In this role, Steve will help to drive functional improvement and transparency in bringing new products to market.

I know I speak for both Steve and I when I say we're excited about this change, and we look forward to meeting with more of you this year at the Reach Conference. I always look forward to the customer presentations and the opportunities to hear directly from you. This year at the conference, there will be a new opportunity to work together through a Watermark volunteer event in the local Anaheim community. I hope I will see you there.

Colin R. Sabol
Senior Vice President and President
Xylem Measurement & Control Solutions

The City of Cedar Park, located just outside of Austin, Texas, upgraded its system with Sensus technology to put customers in control of their water usage and billing.

The utility team from Cedar Park recognized the need to be able to better communicate with customers about how much water they were using and the impact it would have on their bills. They partnered with Sensus to upgrade their AMR system and deployed the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution to 23,000 municipal water customers. The solution included Sensus smart meters and the FlexNet^® communication network, a two-way system that allows city staff to remotely monitor water usage and increase billing accuracy. The utility also implemented the Sensus Analytics solution and opted into the Customer Portal to streamline customer communication and water usage data.

The new solutions have allowed Cedar Park customers to see details about their water usage down to one hour increments, along with the ability to create customizable alerts for unusual water activity.

“The system allows our team to detect continuous flow very quickly, sometimes within a few hours,” said Cedar Park Utility Programs Manager Nanette McCartan. “This helps us catch leaks early, before damage occurs or bills increase significantly. A few times, customers didn’t believe they had a problem—but later they called us back to thank us.”

Read the case study to learn more about Cedar Park's implementation and what they have planned for the future.

The next customer spotlight could be you. Contact Lindsay Hill to share your story.

The latest in residential electricity metering from Sensus, the new Stratus IQ™ meter is designed to be tougher and faster than others in its class. With commercial and industrial horsepower in a residential meter, its benefits include:

• Monitoring energy consumption—and so much more—with eight load profile channels
• Measuring voltage minute-by-minute for maximum grid monitoring and performance
• A virtually indestructible design that protects against weather, theft and tampering
• Support of "software-defined metrology features" including loss of neutral and power quality.

Registration has opened for the 2019 Sensus Reach Conference! This year you'll see some exciting format changes, more sessions packed full of engaging content, and new activities and opportunities for networking. Make your plans to join us in Anaheim from November 3-6.

What's new this year:

• Even more conference sessions and hands-on Learning Labs
• Closing Celebration on Wednesday night to end the conference with entertainment
• New activities, including a Xylem Watermark volunteer event where you can join us in giving back to the community

SPAN Executive Team
— (L to R): Sensus User Community Manager: Dominic Longo; Vice-Chair: Kevin McCauley, Utilities Kingston; Secretary: Brandon Lundy, Alabama Power; Chair: Jeff Parish, Georgia Power; Past Chair/Advisor: Mitch Cason, Georgia Power; Sensus SPAN Liaison: Arlin Rummel

In 2018, the Sensus Partner and Advisor's Network (SPAN) celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Hear more about current Chair Jeff Parrish and what he has planned for the future of SPAN.

Jeff Parrish has been with Georgia Power for 37 years and has spent his entire career in engineering. He currently serves as a Metering Services Supervisor for the Utility. When Georgia Power began their deployment in 2007, Jeff joined the first meeting of what would become SPAN in 2008. He led the Electric Meter Subcommittee until volunteering for the Executive Committee as Secretary in 2016.

"Over time, I really saw the benefit of having an organization user group like SPAN. Sensus' involvement with the group and the backing of the group played a major role in our ability to make progress. It maintains momentum to have users meet together to work on common solutions, and I've seen it exponentially grow."

Jeff has identified the following goals for the group:

• Re-strengthen the commitment to solve issues by leveraging the focus groups. Focus groups were developed to pull in resources to address specific issues in a smaller forum.
• Focus on communications to all members and potential members and increase executive team engagement with subcommittees.
• Continue to maximize the relationship between the SPAN membership and Sensus and increase engagement between Sensus liaisons and each subcommittee.

• Smart Cities Connect 2019
  April 1-4, 2019
  Denver, CO

• American Gas Association
  April 29-May 3, 2019
  Nashville, TN

• ACE 2019
  June 9-12, 2019
  Denver, CO

• Comanche Electric Migrates from Power Line Carrier System to Sensus Next-Generation AMI
  (December 6, 2018)
  
  
• Sensus Reach Awards Celebrate Those Who Reach Farther
  (December 11, 2018)
  
  
• Cedar Park Streamlines Customer Communication through Sensus Solutions
  (January 17, 2019)
  
  
• Sensus Stratus IQ Expands Possibilities, Delivers More Data for Electricity Providers
  (January 29, 2019)
  
  
• Philadelphia Selects Sensus for Advanced Metering Infrastructure Upgrade
  (February 4, 2019)
  
  
• Canadian Utility Uses Sensus Technology to Help Customers Keep the Cold and High Bills at Bay
  (February 26, 2019)
  
  

• Georgia Utility Addresses Non-Revenue Water with Sensus iPERL Meters
  (WaterWorld, December 2018 Issue, page 26)
  
  
• Smart Grid Wireless Communication: What Utilities Need to Know
  (Electric Energy T&D, December 3, 2018)
  
  
• New water meters in Philly will make it easier for customers to spot leaks
  (KYW News Radio, December 24, 2018)
  
  
• NV Energy Optimizes Power Distribution Across its Smart Grid
  (TD World, December 31, 2018)
  
  
• Better Flow Monitoring, Greater Transparency
  (Water Finance & Management, January 3, 2019)
  
  
• Smart Cities: The Role of Smart Utilities
  (Smart Cities Connect, January 14, 2019)
  
  
• Interoperability and Integration
  (Distributed Energy, January 17, 2019)
  
  
• Cedar Park Streamlines Customer Communication through Sensus Solutions
  (Water Efficiency Magazine Online, January 17, 2019)
  
  
• Smart Lighting: Gateway to the Smart City
  (Smart Cities Connect, January 21, 2019)
  
  
• Build the Gas Utility of the Future Now
  (American Gas, published January 2019)
  
  
• AMI deal to improve services to 1.7 million customers
  (Smart Energy International, February 13, 2019)
  
  
• Showcasing a New Energy Meter
  (TD World, February 14, 2019)
  
  
• Indian city cuts revenue loss by half
  (Smart Energy International, February 16, 2019)
  
  
• Georgia utility reduces non-revenue water with Sensus iPERL meter
  (Making Waves, February 18, 2019)
  
  
• Canadian Utility uses Sensus technology to help customers keep bills low
  (Electric Light & Power, February 26, 2019)
  
  

• Texas Co-op Migrates from Power Line Carrier System to Sensus Next-Generation AMI
  (December 6, 2018)
  
  
• Texas Water Provider Improves Customer Communication with Sensus
  (January 17, 2019)
  
  
• Canadian Utility Uses Sensus Technology to Help Customers Keep the Cold and High Bills at Bay
  (February 26, 2019)