Process begins that could result in new Fort Smith water meter system

The Fort Smith Board of Directors has given the green light to allowing city staff to work with Ameresco to develop options to modernize the city’s water meter system, which could help the city reduce an estimated non revenue water loss of around 35%.

Framingham, Mass.-based Ameresco was selected by the city to help determine options and costs for an “Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) System,” a “Water Loss Optimization”plan, and an “Energy Savings Performance Contract” plan.

Chad Nobles, an executive with Ameresco, told board members during a June 24 study session that the company’s solutions have helped many cities improve water metering systems and collect more revenue. His report claimed annual revenue gain of $1.543 million with a replacement of 33,249 water meters in Wichita Falls, Texas, and annual revenue gain of $1.9 million with the replacement of 32,041 meters in Woodland, Texas.

Fort Smith has 39,372 water meters.

Nobles said a modern water meter system can reduce water use, lower energy costs, provide residents and business owners real-time water use data, and “create fairness” in the system with users able to see that all users – residential, commercial, industrial – pay for the water they use. He said modern meters, which have systems that use non-mechanical systems to communicate real-time water use information, also reduce operational costs for a city.

“Yes, it’s bad. Real bad,” Nobles told Talk Business & Politics after the board session. “Your system, the technology, it’s really behind.”

Responding to questions from Director Neal Martin, Nobles said the cost to replace meters could range between $500 and $1,200 a meter, which would be a total cost range in Fort Smith of $20 million and $48 million. Nobles said most of the meters replaced will be closer to the $500 price, which is for smaller residential meters. Nobles cautioned that the numbers are estimates, with better estimates requiring system testing and investigation of equipment now used.

Nobles said Ameresco can help the city select the best equipment at the best value, determine revenue loss from inaccurate meters, develop a scope of work to best address system upgrade needs, create a strategy to educate citizens about the new system, and “provide turn-key firm fixed project price” with a return on investment estimate.

Part of the process includes determining which customer category is resulting in the most revenue lost. For example, Ameresco testing in Mesquite, Texas, showed that smaller residential meters were 97% accurate, the intermediate larger lines were 92% accurate, and the largest lines for commercial and industrial users were only 84% accurate. With that data, Nobles said they are able to show citizens and water users that a better system results in a more fair billing system.

“All we want is everyone to pay for the water they are using,” Nobles told the board.

With more data from modern meters, a homeowner can track usage. If they see a spike in water used, they can more immediately find the cause – maybe a broken toilet, Nobles said – and stop the problem before it results in a larger monthly bill. The same is true with commercial and industrial users, Nobles said.

There are three “next steps,” according to Nobles. The first step is that city staff will work with Ameresco to develop a project agreement. The initial agreement fee will be in the range of $50,000 to $125,000 based on the extent of work, Nobles said. The agreement will then be brought to the board for approval.

Approval of the development agreement allows for the second step, which is an audit of the system conducted by Ameresco. The audit will include data analysis, testing meters, a plan for the scope of work, and equipment selection and pricing.

With results of the audit and options to address the issues, the third step is a review by the board to determine if it wants to proceed. If the board approves a plan, it would take 12-24 months to implement the plan and install new meters, Nobles said.

The Ameresco work also will include options to help the city fund a complete replacement of meters.

Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC), which reports having more than 1,500 employees, posted first quarter 2025 revenue of $352.8 million, better than the $298.4 million in the same period of 2024. The company posted a first quarter income loss of $5.5 million, more than the $2.9 million loss in the same quarter of 2024.

Total revenue in 2024 was $1.769 billion, above the $1.374 billion in 2023. 2024 net income was $53.94 million, below the $63.904 million in 2023.