Enbridge Gas New Brunswick upgrades its natural gas meter technology

Enbridge Gas New Brunswick has made the decision to purchase and install automated meter reading (AMR) devices on all existing and future natural gas meters to help improve operational efficiency and enhance customer service.

“As our customer base and workload continues to grow, this advanced technology is seen as a solution to the growing demands of our business,” explained Jamie LeBlanc, Manager of Finance and Control for Enbridge Gas New Brunswick. “This project represents an important step in our effort to improve our overall competitiveness and the service we provide to our customers.”

The implementation of these devices will allow Enbridge Gas New Brunswick personnel to read up to 10,000 meters on a single route, by driving through neighborhoods with AMR equipment mounted on a vehicle, rather than physically visiting each meter to manually capture reads.

“The completion of this project will enable Enbridge Gas New Brunswick to read more meters, more accurately, in a shorter amount of time, reduce the amount of vehicles that travel on the road, and improve employee safety, while also lowering meter reading costs” said LeBlanc.

Moving forward, all natural gas meters for new customers will be installed with AMR devices.

Existing customers can expect to be converted starting in October 2010 and the upgrade to existing natural gas meters is expected to take approximately two years to complete. This conversion will not disrupt service to customers.

Enbridge Gas New Brunswick is regulated by the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board and has a distribution network that includes approximately 750 kilometers of natural gas pipelines. Enbridge Gas New Brunswick serves over 10,400 customers in Dieppe, Fredericton, Moncton, Oromocto, Riverview, Sackville, Saint John, St. George and St. Stephen.