The Marco Island City Council has approved moving forward with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), after an audit of the water meters showed the need to modernize our meter system to provide precise and equitable billing for Marco Island water customers.
Over the past two years, the City focused meter replacements on only those units that had become completely inoperable, conserving resources while evaluating a full, island-wide upgrade. The goal is to equip every customer with a smart meter that delivers real-time usage data so households and businesses can make informed conservation choices and receive immediate alerts for leaks or other issues. AMI uses state-of-the-art ultrasonic smart meters that read usage continuously and report automatically via a secure radio network. Customers will have access to their hourly water data through a web portal and mobile app, along with customizable alerts for unusually high consumption or potential leaks.
In April 2024, the City partnered with Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) to perform a comprehensive audit of the entire meter network. The audit confirmed that many older mechanical meters have gradually lost accuracy, under-registering actual water consumption. This under-reporting means some customers have been charged for less water than they used. As meters are replaced, those discrepancies will be corrected so each customer pays precisely for the water they consume.
The audit also revealed that some older condominium complexes experienced significant undercounting. The City will be contacting those communities to explain what to expect during the transition to AMI and ensure a smooth rollout.
Over the next few months, the City will upgrade the water billing system and build the online portal and app. Once that work is complete, installation crews will begin replacing all 11,500 meters, with full deployment scheduled by early 2026. Residents can look forward to transparent billing as the new meters will record usage every hour and transmit readings every three hours, eliminating manual reads and providing up-to-the-minute data. Leak-detection alerts will notify customers immediately of any sudden spikes, helping to address issues before they become costly. The customer portal will securely display daily and hourly usage, trend charts, and conservation tips to help manage the customer’s water footprint.
The Water & Sewer Department remains committed to fairness and top-tier service. The AMI upgrade represents a major step forward in accuracy and transparency. We will continue to provide regular updates on the AMI rollout schedule and the launch of the customer portal. For meter or billing questions, residents may contact Customer Service at (239) 394-3880. For questions specifically about the AMI program, please call Jeff Poteet at (239) 389-5181.