GWMWATER will install remote water meters for urban households across the region, following a successful roll-out for rural pipeline customers.
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The new digital meter, which includes a low frequency radio transmitter, will measure water use every hour for billing and operational purposes.
About 32,000 households will have meters replaced - including 8000 households in Horsham - across a nine-month period.
The upgrade in Horsham started in June and has reached its final phase.
Upgrade works in Stawell and Ararat are scheduled for August 12 and September 2 respectively.
GWMWater communications and engagement manager Adele Rohde said the new meters would benefit residents.
"One of the biggest wins for our customers is that, amongst the range of other initiatives, the rollout of remote meters has supported us to reduce water rates for 2018-19 and 2019-20, and to keep it steady for the next three years - based on the efficiencies that the meters create for us," she said.
"In terms of other direct benefits to customers, the data that is provided gives them the opportunity to view their water usage online, via a free customer portal that is currently being configured for urban usage."
Mrs Rohde said customers could log onto the system and view historical data from the time their meter was installed.
She said it would allow customers to track water use effectively and regulate water consumption.
"The new system means they can break down their water use day-by-day. If there is a particular day where they have used lot more water, and they are not really sure why, they can look into further," she said.
Mrs Rohde said residents could also identify it there was a potential water leak by signing up for alerts.
"The systems identifies if there is leak based on their normal water usage patterns," she said.
Mrs Rohde said the meters had direct benefits to the environment by reducing carbon emissions - that mostly occurred through the significant travel involved in manual reading.
She said customers would be notified of upgrades via mail.
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