The county moving forward to bring its water meter-reading into the 21^st century.

In June, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners approved a plan to replace its system with an Advanced Metering Infrastructure project, eliminating the need to manually read the county’s approximately 14,000 water meters. With the new system, usage rates will be transmitted remotely to the county office.

The project’s cost is $4,712,588, $212,588 of that refunded sales tax from the state and the remaining $4.5 million to be borrowed from a commercial bank. In July, commissioners authorized staff to send out RFPs for financing packages. Once approval of the financing is approved by the Local Government Commission, the two-year-long project will get underway.

According to county Manager Brian Alligood, the system in place is showing its age.

“It’s old enough that we’re having to change stuff out,” Alligood said, adding the “smart meters” providing remote readings will allow the county to manage the system in the most efficient  and cost-effective way possible.

According to the county resolution authorizing the filing of an application for approval of a financing agreement with the LGC, “the proposed project is necessary because the county’s water meter infrastructure is aging, and therefore the water system is losing revenue through inaccurate measuring of water usage.”

Public Works Director Christina Smith said the new system will improve customer service. Instead of relying on monthly readings, employees will have access to up-to-date readings if customers have questions about their usage, and the system will also alert employees to abnormally high usage, who will then contact customers to help identify the cause and correct a potentially costly problem, according to Smith.

County Chief Financial Officer Anita Radcliffe said she hopes to have a financing package in place to present to the LGC board at its next meeting on Aug. 7.

Public works is currently working on a schedule for making a gradual countywide transition to the new system.

“Certain areas will be switching out as it progresses,” Smith said.

Water customers will be alerted through mail and public notice when their systems switch over to the new one.