New water monitoring service.

Jay Raphaelson, president of Utility Programs & Metering, Inc. (UPMI), announced that the firm has begun offering a new water monitoring service which allows building owners to compensate for New York City's irregular meter reading schedule.

At the present time, the City of New York generally reads building water meters once every six months. When they are unable to gain access to the meters, estimated bills are issued. If a series of estimated bills is issued, by the time an accurate reading is taken, any inaccuracies in the estimates will have multiplied and could represent a significant and unexpected sum due the City within thirty days. Most often the building owner has not anticipated this retro-active billing by accruing funds towards its payment.

UPMI's new service, which includes monthly water meter readings, was developed to ensure that building management could accrue adequate funds for water usage based on actual readings. These readings also provide the data for a trend analysis of water consumption which allows defective meters or building operating problems to be identified and for tenants who use substantial amounts of water to be charged accordingly. As part of its service, UPMI also conducts audits of the New York City Water Board invoices to determine accuracy and agreement with the meter readings taken.