Issue - items at meetings - Procurement of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) Equipment to Electricity, Gas, Water & Heat Meters

Report of the Strategic Director; Place (copy attached).

That the Head of Property and Design be authorised to approve the procurement and award of:

(i)      A contract with a term of five years for the purchase and installation of AMR equipment to all Priority 1 and 2 sites for water, gas, electricity and heat metered supplies to schools, common ways of housing flats and other corporate buildings through the existing Government Procurement Services framework agreement at an estimated initial cost of up to £500,000 with subsequent annual data collection charges estimated at £60 per meter per annum (up to £50,000 per year) for five years; and

(ii)     A contract with a term of five years for the provision of a suitable AMR monitoring software tendered using an open procedure in order to maximise the benefits of the AMRs including consumption monitoring, high consumption alerts and web-based ‘live’ information available to schools and building users. The cost of the contract for the AMR monitoring software is included in 1 (i) above.

58.1         The Head of Property and Design introduced the report and stated that it would enable the council to reduce its carbon footprint and have greater control over its consumption of energy in its buildings with the installation of automated meter reading equipment.

58.2         Councillor G. Theobald stated that in principle he felt it was a good idea; however he was concerned about the level of expenditure required for the equipment when taking the current budgetary position into account.

58.3         The Chair noted the concern and stated that there was a need to take action and address the costs of energy bills, bearing in mind that the Government was expected to introduce changes and the council needed to be able to manage its energy consumption more effectively.

58.4         The Acting Director of Finance stated that the energy bills were substantial and there was a need to be able to identify the costs more effectively so that action could be taken to address the situation and make savings.

58.5         Councillor Peltzer Dunn stated that he had assumed council buildings and land was already metered and that costs could be identified and action therefore taken to reduce these.

58.6         Councillor Hamilton expressed concern that accurate information could not be obtained and the various energy companies challenged over their bills, and questioned the level of expenditure when no guarantee of future savings could be made and therefore could not support the recommendations.

58.7         The Head of Property and Design stated that the utility companies were not obliged to read the meters more than once a year and the aim was to enable the council to be in a position whereby leaks could be identified at an early stage and therefore addressed and costs reduced.

58.8         Councillor West stated that there was a need to tackle the situation and reduce energy costs and prevent the waste of water etc…  The intention of installing the equipment was to enable problems to be identified quickly and save resources so that the savings could then be used elsewhere to maintain services.

58.9         Councillor Mitchell stated that she could not accept the recommendations and questioned why the proposals were not part of the overall budget planning process and suggested that there should be a review prior to any implementation.

58.10    The Chair stated that it did come into the budget plans and there was a need to conserve resources and therefore action needed to be taken so that the costs could be clearly established.  He therefore put the recommendations to the vote.

58.11    RESOLVED: That the Head of Property and Design be authorised to approve the procurement and award of:

(i)      A contract with a term of five years for the purchase and installation of AMR equipment to all Priority 1 and 2 sites for water, gas, electricity and heat metered supplies to schools, common ways of housing flats and other corporate buildings through the existing Government Procurement Services framework agreement at an estimated initial cost of up to £500,000 with subsequent annual data collection charges estimated at £60 per meter per annum (up to £50,000 per year) for five years; and

(ii)     A contract with a term of five years for the provision of a suitable AMR monitoring software tendered using an open procedure in order to maximise the benefits of the AMRs including consumption monitoring, high consumption alerts and web-based ‘live’ information available to schools and building users. The cost of the contract for the AMR monitoring software is included in (i) above.