From Stress to Success: Streetsboro Transforms it's Utility with Smart Metering

In Streetsboro, Ohio—a growing city of 17,000 residents—water billing used to be a source of stress for everyone. Utility staff juggled outdated software, aging meters, and a flood of monthly reread work orders. They struggled to support customers who might call in to dispute a high quarterly bill. But that all changed when the Streetsboro utility team made a strategic move to upgrade their entire metering infrastructure. 

By 2022, the team at Streetsboro Water had had enough of outdated meters and a lack of data. They were ready for a change. Non-revenue water (NRW) had climbed to 24%, meters were approaching 20 years of age, and work orders routinely spiked to 800 per billing cycle. Their legacy meter software was increasing in cost.  

Between meter misreads and failures, and hours of manual troubleshooting, quarterly billing had become an overwhelming chore—and one that often ended with angry phone calls from confused or frustrated customers. 

Determined to take back control, the city turned to Kamstrup for a complete Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution. The rollout included: 

• 5,200 Kamstrup flowIQ® 2200 ALD meters
• 2 AMI Collectors
• Kamstrup’s READy Manager software for remote meter reading and usage analytics
• Leak Detector Software for real-time leak monitoring

Implementation began in October 2023, with a hard deadline to complete the change-out before legacy software support ended. The Streetsboro team didn’t wait. Before their contractor was even in place, utility staff rolled up their sleeves and started installing meters themselves.

“My life was consumed with this project for over a year,” said Water Billing Administrator Katie Harrison. “We were under pressure, but we made it happen.”

Since implementing the Kamstrup solution, Streetsboro has seen a dramatic transformation in every area of its operations.

Financial Gains

• NRW dropped from 24% to single digits
• Revenue increased, especially from commercial meters that were previously under-reporting.

  • The following revenue metrics were shared by the City of Streetsboro and include both residential and commercial accounts:

    Q4 2023: $920,807.89

    Q4 2024: $1,023,479.70

    Increase: $102,941.81, or 11.18%

Q1 2023: $1,030,250.17

Q1 2025: $1,111,952.20

Increase: $81,702.03, or 7.93%

• Water leak adjustment credits dropped significantly due to pinpointed leak data
• A shortened and more efficient billing cycle is now completed in two to three days - half the time it used to take

"We're no longer giving a 25% discount on a full three-month bill," Harrison said. "Now we only credit for the actual leak period."

Operational Efficiency

• 800+ work orders per cycle have shrunk to just a handful, mostly leak-related
• Field crews are freed up to focus on preventative maintenance instead of chasing down reads
• AMI leak alerts are reviewed daily, enabling staff to call customers before their bills arrive
• Usage data is used to resolve disputes quickly - with visual proof of hourly consumption available in the READy Manager platform

One of the biggest shifts for Streetsboro's team hasn't just been having data - it's learning how to use it.

With the introduction of Kamstrup's READy Manager software, utility staff now have daily visibility into detailed consumption data for every customer. And they're putting that information to work.

"We've learned how to read the graphs - what a sprinkler looks like, what a pool fill looks like, even what a furnace humdifier shows up as," said Linda Hartman. "Those patterns tell us what's going on before the customer even knows there's a problem."

By recognizing specific usage spikes or continuous flow patterns, the team can quickly identify: 

• Quiet toilet leaks that may go unnoticed by hearing impaired seniors  
• Outdoor hoses left running overnight
• Leaks in irrigation systems
• Furnace humidifiers that cause steady consumption 

When a potential issue is spotted, they proactively reach out—often before the customer receives a bill. The impact is two-fold: fewer surprises for customers and more credibility for the utility. 

“We’ve built trust by showing people exactly what’s happening with their water use,” said Linda Hartman. “They can see it for themselves in the graph. And that changes the conversation from frustration to appreciation.”

This hands-on experience with the data has empowered the team to develop their own internal best practices and workflows—effectively turning them into pattern recognition experts.

“It was hard. But now we’re better, faster, and more trusted than we’ve ever been,” said Katie Harrison. “It was worth every minute.”