A multi-pronged approach drives automatic meter reading in Chartres

Through a trio of smart metering systems, Diehl Metering has enabled the Greater Chartres area in northern France to automate meters readings in all its urban and rural communities. The upgrade has helped improve the billing process while increasing satisfaction among end users.

Home to 140,000 people, the Greater Chartres region is provided with water by a private-public partnership named Cm Eau. Our team in France worked with the utility to address a number of challenges related to its distribution network. These included labor-intensive data collection, wasted water and unreliable billing, which was partially due to inaccurate estimates.

Over a period of one and a half years, we supported Cm Eau to upgrade its network with our ALTAÏR volumetric meters, allowing it to transition from manual to automatic reading. To ensure we covered the entire network, we used three different systems. A fixed network was complemented by a Passive Drive-By solution, using local garbage trucks to collect data. These two solutions allowed Cm Eau to automatically read 95% of meters. For the remaining 5%, we equipped the utility with a Walk-By system.

Data is now collected weekly, or even twice a week in some areas, and is extremely reliable because the potential for human error has been eliminated. As a result, Cm Eau has implemented accurate quarterly billing, allowing households to monitor consumption and adjust their habits accordingly. This has helped increase end user satisfaction. At the same time, automatic meter reading has reduced manual labor for the utility, while also empowering it to identify leaks and preserve water resources.