Summary
Committed to making environmentally responsible infrastructure improvements and cost-saving benefits for their residents, the City of Wichita Falls partnered with Ameresco on two phases of water and energy infrastructure and conservation projects. By retrofitting and replacing energy, water, and lighting system equipment, the City was able to increase revenue and operational efficiencies while reducing operations and maintenance (O&M) costs and electricity consumption.
“The City of Wichita Falls has owned its own street lighting system for 35 years. With Ameresco’s help, the City was able to reduce its street lighting electrical budget from $1.1 million to $250,000 per year!”
– John Burrus
Director of Aviation, Traffic and Transportation,
City of Wichita Falls
$296,225
Average Annual Energy and O&M Savings
$1,473,670
Annual Revenue and O&M Savings
$2,895,637
LED Street Lighting Project Size
$15,884,487
AMI and Water Meter Project Size
Customer Benefits
The City of Wichita Falls benefited from increased water utility revenue, O&M cost savings, reduced electricity costs, and guaranteed energy savings for the term of the agreement. In addition to the monetary benefit, the project also helped the City address outstanding operational and environmental issues.
- Reduced the burden of data collection on City staff, addressed meter accessibility issues, allowed City staff to access billing data remotely, reduced billing errors and provided a web portal for citizens to view historical utility consumption data
- Selected technology with a licensed frequency that eliminated interference with Police Department communications
- Addressed low/un-funded infrastructure needs and increased the life cycle of City assets
- Enhanced the reliability and quality of the street lighting systems and operations
- Improved Dark Skies lighting environment
- Positioned the City as “smart city ready” should they elect to incorporate smart city applications in the future
Services Provided
In Phase I, Ameresco installed a turnkey fixed-based Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system and replaced positive displacement meters with smart water meters throughout the City. In Phase II, the City of Wichita Falls contracted with Ameresco for a citywide street lighting system upgrade. This project was one of the first comprehensive street light retrofits in the state of Texas utilizing the newest Oncor rate structure for LED roadway lights. The new tariff structure allowed the City to monetize their investment in their owned street lights.
- Installation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system
- Replacement of 33,389 smart water meters and integration into the AMI system
- Reconstruction of 130 existing water meters and integration into the AMI system
- Replacement of approximately 5,500 street lights with new LED street light fixtures
