The City of Lake Charles is advising residents that installation of new smart water meters is now underway.

 

In January 2021, the City of Lake Charles and Lake Charles City Council selected Utility Metering Solutions (UMS) as its service provider to install the new meters.

 

UMS is an experienced partner that installs an average of half a million meters nationwide each year. UMS will begin installing enhanced water meters in March 2023 and will have every meter upgraded by June 2024.

 

​With this project, the City of Lake Charles will replace about 35,000 current water meters with state-of-the-art smart meters to improve the customer experience for residential and commercial water customers. The project’s use of advanced metering will elevate the City of Lake Charles’ system to be one of the strongest and most resilient along the Gulf Coast.

 

The smart water meters have flow detection that will more quickly identify leaks either at individual residences or along the City’s lines.

 

This project brings several benefits to the City of Lake Charles and its customers, including:

  • More accurate and dependable monthly water usage readings
  • Faster, state-of-the-art flow detection
  • More consistent bills from month to month
  • A hardened, improved water infrastructure to minimize the effects of future natural disasters
  • Positive environmental impacts due to water waste reduction

 

“The City of Lake Charles has survived some extremely tough times over the past several years,” said Kevin Heise, City of Lake Charles Utilities Manager. “We are proactively investing in the smart meters project to improve the lives of our residents and offer a sense of security in knowing that Lake Charles will have one of the most advanced systems on the Gulf Coast.”                                         

 

The installation process for each individual residence will only take about one hour. Since the residential meters are all located outdoors, residents do not need to be home during the replacement or do anything in advance to schedule the installation. During the installation, customers can expect their water to be turned off for about 30-60 minutes. 

 

If the installer is unable to notify residents by knocking on the door, a door hanger will be placed on residents’ front door knobs to notify them that their meter replacement was completed successfully.

 

Local businesses will be contacted directly to schedule their meter replacements to ensure minimal disruption. 

 

UMS employees will be easily identified as they will be wearing UMS attire and driving a vehicle marked with the UMS logo. All representatives will also have a photo badge with the City and UMS logos. 

 

To learn more about the smart meter project, visit www.cityoflakecharles.com/smartmeterproject or call (337) 491-1530.