BOARD02112

• Board Meeting Date: 1/9/1978
• Description: Agenda, Minutes, Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

mean putting in a Badger meter,. a Neptune meter, or whatever it is,.a
mechanical type device, in the ~ystem below the frost line or in the
basement where its ability to perform continuously is not adversely
affected by freezing. This is one of the reasons why we do have 'prob-
lems associated with excess costs. A substantial number of these
metered properties are the older homes in Denver with. service lines I
that have been installed many years ago--seventy-five years: ago, as an
example. So when you do dig up and interfere with those old lines,
which at that time were not protected from electrolytic action or. .
corrosion, your line goes to pot. You can't put a meter in it, because
the minute you touch it, it just disintegrates. So~it means that the
entire installation has to. be accomplished: Therein, as emphasized by
Mr. Sparks., is. the problem and what. causes, primarily ,the increased
cost.

The-old concept of metering has been~invoked for:many'years. Some of
the meters we have in Denver have been installed for fifty.years. It
is true that some have been replaced in that length of time. But it's
an old concept and with today's technqlogy and sophisticated ability in
the electronicsfield,_ we feel that we' are just: around .the corner from
. sophisticated adaptations of metering and that we are: not. about to.
initiate today and spend $30 million on a.program which within relatively
a few years we would be. junking and starting to modernize:.

We are immediately in the process. now of initiating a study program of
our.own in cooperation with Bell Telephone in. cooperation with the
Public Service Company, who also have problems with metering, to. see if
there are new techniques or sophisticated methods to install metering
at the same cost or at a lesser cost or which wil~ result in lesser
operation and maintenance costs in years to come.

.-6-