Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – $16 million will be spent to replace thousands of the city’s City Water, Light, and Power (CWLP) electric meters.

That’s after a City Council vote this past week that officially replaces a pilot program where some were replaced with digital meters so they can be read easier.

“These three ordinances combined…replace the original ordinance,” said Scott Rogers, CWLP Chief Utilities Engineer.  “It included software and service, and maintenance agreements that were not included in the original.  It’s now a 15 year agreement for maintenance and for data collection.”

The original plan apparently wasn’t fully reviewed by the meter company’s legal counsel when it was first approved.  The use of that meter company was also in question by aldermen — specifically, what municipalities use the company’s metering system.

“I’m a novice.  You guys are the experts.  I could find Metropolis, a small town, Flora, a small town, and Breese, a small town,” said Ald. Roy Williams.  “I was hoping to hear more compatible-size cities, like our city, at that level in Illinois.”

Williams was concerned that most of the larger cities were out of state.  Rogers said the company involved is, in their words, one of the “primary players” in advanced metering.  He also said that the system would allow for water meters and data collection for them down the road, should CWLP and the City Council want to go down the road.

Alderman Shawn Gregory said he was hopeful that the meter upgrades would happen in Ward 2 first, because he claimed it usually ends up last when those things come.  Rogers said he couldn’t promise that, but that the company likely would start in the central part of Springfield, and work its way around.