During the 1/13/2025 City Council Meeting, Beacon's City Administrator Chris White announced that the second round of letters instructing people to schedule their water meter upgrade is going out again in English and Spanish. So far, 65% of homeowners have completed this task. It is mandatory, and will result in a $250 "surcharge on your bill" if the change out is not scheduled by April, City Administrator Chris said. This upgrade has resulted in some people getting their entire water meter replaced during this time, and are experiencing an increase in the water bill because the City was estimating on an old water meter, and now the exact amount is reading, City Administrator Chris said.
"We are changing out all of the radio transmitters on the meters that read how much water you use at your house," he said. This is not a change in the full water meter, but a swap out of the radio transmitter. "Once up and running," he said, people can "log in and view real time water usage, set alarms in case there is a leak," and look for a continuous flow or spikes in flow.
Some Water Bills Increased When New Water Meters Were Replaced
City Administrator Chris indicated that there are people who have not changed out their meters in over a decade, who are now facing larger bills. He told the Council: “We literally had people that hadn't changed out their meters in over a decade, and had never responded to the City. So, absent some type of mechanism to get their attention, and find them...those people now as the meters are being changed out, and we're getting actual reads, some of them are facing very large bills because we've estimated their usage and they significantly exceeded that usage. They have to pay for the water that they use.”
He continued: “So it's in everyone's interest both the City and the homeowners to have these upgraded to have these read in a timely manner, and to be able to keep an eye on them. I can't tell you how frustrating it is when someone comes in with a bill that's in the thousands of dollars after a 3-month cycle when they didn't know there was a leak, and with the new system, they will be able to more easily detect leaks, and then remedy those before they run up large bills.”
A Little Beacon Blog reached out to City Administrator Chris to get clarification on how a homeowner can know if they are to get a new water meter during the radio transmitter swap-out, but has not received a response as of this publishing.
How To Schedule The Mandatory Water Meter Upgrade
In the first letter, a link was shared that as of today, goes to a form that asks for an appointment date. But it is not clear if this is the correct or relevant link, as a person does not have an appointment yet when they are going to schedule. City Administrator Chris gave a new link during the meeting, for www.vepometering.com and instructed to click Schedule an Appointment, but a list is provided that does not include Beacon.
He also gave a phone number, 877-860-8376, which does work. When called, the representative will ask for your account number, which can be found on your water bill. They can also look it up from your address.
City Administrator Chris told Council hopes the entire radio transmitter replacement project will be completed by July or August.
