NIGP 96858: Meter Reading Services

NIGP 96858 Meter Reading Services is an Item code addressing the manual and automated collection of consumption data from utility meters—water, wastewater, stormwater, electric, and gas—across state and local water utilities, municipal electric systems, and special districts. State and local governments use this code to solicit meter reading labor, associated data management and reporting, meter maintenance and minor repair, emergency response services, and billing audit work tied to revenue recovery from metering anomalies. Recent solicitations show municipalities and counties contracting for bimonthly or cyclical physical meter reads with data submission requirements, performance-based billing audits to identify and reduce apparent revenue losses, meter rebuild and refurbishment services, and integrated meter-reading platforms combining handheld collection technology with cloud-based analytics. Issuing bodies include city water and utilities departments (Fort Worth, Lubbock, Vernonburg), county utilities systems (Gwinnett County Georgia, Marion County Florida, Okaloosa County Florida, Collier County Florida), and municipal electric utilities (Lubbock Power & Light). The code sees activity across Florida, Georgia, and Texas, with representation from smaller rural municipalities and larger metropolitan systems alike.

Gwinnett County, Georgia issued IFB BL107-26 on July 15, 2026, due July 31, 2026, for multi-year meter reading services covering water, wastewater, and stormwater meters with performance standards and service-frequency requirements, seeking cost proposals and transition planning from an incumbent provider. The Town of Vernonburg, Georgia solicited an RFP posted March 26, 2026, due April 10, 2026, for bimonthly meter reading on 19 residential and 2 master meters with manual reads, detailed reporting, minor repairs, and 24/7 emergency response, requiring unit pricing per meter and hourly rates. Okaloosa County, Florida posted RFPWS5726 on June 15, 2026, due July 15, 2026, for a performance-based billing audit of 34,000+ water and sewer customer accounts structured on a fee-sharing model tied to documented revenue increases, with a one-year investigation term followed by three years of payback and requiring ten years of apparent-revenue-loss experience. The City of Fort Worth, Texas issued RFP 26-0162 on March 31, 2026, due April 23, 2026, for an as-needed agreement covering multiple meter types (positive displacement, turbine, compound, electromagnetic, ultrasonic) supporting over 306,000 connections and approximately 8,000 new installations and 2,000 replacements annually, with Sensus SmartPoint 520M radio transceiver integration and a 30 percent small-business utilization goal for Tarrant County and surrounding counties.