Repeaters for remote water meter reading in Ystad Municipality
Customer:
The Water and Wastewater Unit of Ystad Municipality is responsible for operating water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants and pipe networks. The unit has just over 35 employees committed to creating sustainable water and wastewater solutions. Over a number of years, major investments have been made to modernize and develop the municipality's water services. These investments have put the municipality at the forefront of the water and wastewater sector, ahead of other municipalities that have not yet carried out corresponding expansions. Today, a large proportion of water meter readings in Ystad Municipality are carried out automatically through remote reading. PiiGAB has supplied wM-Bus repeaters that contribute to the high level of automation.
Background:
In 2011, Ystad Municipality took the first steps toward replacing mechanical water meters that customers read themselves with digital water meters and remote reading. For several years, this was carried out as testing. Starting in 2015, a broader rollout of smart water meters began among a couple of hundred larger consumers.
There are many benefits to remote reading that the Water and Wastewater Unit wanted to take advantage of. Examples include reduced administration, more reliable billing data and the ability to detect leaks and deviations at an early stage. The remotely read water meters selected by Ystad Municipality are equipped with integrated communication, enabling easy remote reading through both drive-by and network solutions using various communication methods, such as wireless M-Bus.
In 2015, remote reading was primarily carried out using drive-by. Four years later, the municipality decided to switch to remotely read meters for virtually all water and wastewater customers.
The challenge:
Taking the step from manual meter reading to automatic remote reading can involve various challenges. This was also the case for the Water and Wastewater Unit in Ystad. One challenge was to make the greatest possible use of the municipality's existing infrastructure, including wastewater pumping stations, pressure-boosting stations and water towers, when expanding the network for water meter reading. Many of these sites have fiber and electricity installed, enabling the Water and Wastewater Unit to smoothly install solutions that connect a large number of meters to the collection unit via repeaters and M-Bus communication.
The solution:
When the municipality decided in 2019 to replace virtually all mechanical water meters, this also presented a strategic and technical challenge. Remote reading would also have to take place at sites without access to electricity and fiber, where installing electricity and fiber would be too expensive.
At PiiGAB, we are pleased with our collaboration with Ystad Municipality's Water and Wastewater Unit. It is rewarding to be part of such an ambitious and well-considered initiative to replace manual meter reading with remote reading. Not every municipality has made the transition without disruptions.
We are convinced that, with repeaters, we can often help ensure reliable and disruption-free communication between water meters and collection units!
