HOUSTON — Take a drive around Houston and one thing you won’t see is what’s going on underground. Even then if you look, it’s hard to tell if you have a new remote reading device. It’s the part of the meter that transmits an electronic signal so the billing department knows how much to charge you.
So, where are they being installed? KHOU 11 requested public records and analyzed the data. The ZIP codes with the most devices installed are 77365 (Kingwood), 77011 (East End/Magnolia) and a cluster in the Alief and Fort Bend county areas (77094, 77477, 77083 and 77099, 77072 and 77489).
When we went out to one of those areas, we met Jesse Rodriguez. He knew about his upgraded meter but said since it was installed, his bills have not gone down.
“Our bills went up $100 to $200," Rodriguez said. "I mean, that’s a lot, it’s outrageous, I can understand electrical, but not water, but what can we do?”
Houston Public Works declined an interview.
In a statement, a spokeswoman said, "The current deployment plan to update electronic reading devices is not specific to ZIP codes but focuses on areas where the devices have reached their end of life and are no longer functioning as intended. Areas that have not received upgraded devices have devices that are operable and do not need replacing. Meters will typically last many years if not decades longer than the remote read devices. Remote read devices last one to two decades."
For Rodriguez, he’s not convinced yet that having his replaced is a good thing.
“Well, I got it, I got stuck out, I got the short end of the stick," he said.
On Tuesday's KHOU 11 Morning News, we’ll show you which ZIP codes have the lowest number of upgraded meters and show you how professors at Rice University are hoping to help Houston’s water woes.