Council meter readings automated

HENLEY Town Council is to spend £10,500 on the installation of automatic readers for all its utility meters.

It says the move will provide benefits in line with the council’s decision to declare a climate emergency in 2020.

A report by deputy town clerk Cath Adams says officers tried to establish a baseline for the council’s energy consumption at its six buildings.

She says: “At the moment the parks team go around and take meter readings and the town sergeant takes meter readings for the town centre meters.

“Although we have relatively regular readings we don’t have comparable date-to-date readings. They are also quite time-consuming.

“We looked into automated meter readings, approached three companies and had meetings with two of those.

“One of the companies has already put a trial automatic reader on the water meter at Waterman’s allotments, which has been really useful. It has already highlighted where something was left running overnight.

“We can set alarms so we know if there is unusual usage.”

Ms Adams said the benefits would be the time saved and the receipt of better information.

“Once we start putting in energy-saving measures into council buildings we will be better able to see the effects,” she added.

The annual charge for the service is just over £1,000, increasing each year according to the retail price index, but it is likely to pay for itself in savings.

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak welcomed the investment but said it was important to control the ongoing cost.

Cllr Will Hamilton suggested negotiating a five-year deal fixed at the year one rate.

The council agreed to ask for confirmation of the annual increase as part of the contract.

• In November, the council was awarded a £29,000 grant by the Rural Community Energy Fund to investigate “decarbonisation” of its buildings.