Getting feedback about meter upgrades

More than 9,500 customers shared their experience receiving water meter upgrades. Here’s what we heard…

When the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) started planning upgrades to customer water meters, we knew there was a lot to learn.

I’ve been involved in the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)* project since mid-2019. I helped craft the customer-facing communications experience. This included developing content and drafting layouts.

Our key goals for the project from the beginning were:

• Keeping our customers safe
• Ensuring the adoption of the meter upgrade

Pivoting during the pandemic

The first meter upgrades at customer homes began in late 2019. Soon after, we quickly revised our messaging with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We revised letters, door hangers, postcards, and other customer-facing information many times. We had to remain flexible and adapt to new guidance from the City and other key stakeholders.

Over 470,000 meters upgraded in Philadelphia

About 5 ½ years after starting the project, we have upgraded over 95% of eligible residential meters in Philadelphia, totaling nearly half of a million installations. We still have some work to do to reach the last few active meters.

Upgrading that many meters took a lot of work and coordination. PWD worked with two large contractors to handle the upgrades. With PWD, they zigzagged across the City, neighborhood by neighborhood. Some of the first meters we upgraded were in Southeast Philadelphia and in Northern Liberties. Years later, we “ended” our primary outreach in the Bustleton and Kensington areas.

Gathering customer feedback

PWD has worked with ImpactEd at the University of Pennsylvania since 2016 on various customer research efforts. Their research team helped us develop a customer survey for the meter upgrade process.

We focused on the following questions:

• Were customers happy with the process of scheduling their appointment?
• Did customers feel informed about the reasons behind the upgrade?
• Did we prioritize our customers’ health and safety during installation?

We started surveying customers after their upgrade in November 2020. We used custom links to track responses from the different installers (each contractor and PWD).

Since November 2020, more than 9,500 surveys have been completed. ImpactEd reviews and organizes the responses. 95% of survey respondents report an “excellent” or “great” experience with the meter upgrade process.

When I read through the responses, I love to see specific meter upgrade technicians recognized for their kindness, expertise, and knowledge. I make sure to pass on the accolades! Who doesn’t like to hear that someone positively remembers your work!?

The surveys also helped highlight issues to address. We heard customers were frustrated with the scheduling platform. Sometimes a meter was not upgraded correctly and required a follow-up visit. Occasionally, a scheduled appointment was missed. Mistakes happen, but we tried to implement changes where we could. We started emailing customers, in addition to sending letters, giving residents another way to start the scheduling process. We shared larger scheduling issues with the installers so they could be aware.

Taking our findings on the road

I brought the survey findings and communications experience to the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE) in June 2023. The conference was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The presentation highlighted how we approached this project. I shared real-life samples of our customer-facing materials, so other utilities could learn from both our successes and setbacks.

The presentation was well-attended and well-received. After the presentation, I spoke with other water utility workers about customer outreach. We talked about successful approaches (postcards typically get better engagement than a letter) and common stumbling blocks (getting customers to understand the sense of urgency).