Meter Pit Program Offers Middlesex Water Customers Convenience and Safety

Middlesex Water Company is installing exterior meter pit enclosures in its service area as part of a multi-year program to meet regulatory requirements and offer customers added convenience and safety.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities requires residential meters be replaced and tested on a recurring schedule, typically ten years for most residential customers. However gaining access to homes to perform these change outs throughout its 780-mile system has become a challenge for the Company, thus the decision to relocate meters to the exterior of the home.  As the Company performs water main construction or encounters meter access issues, it is systematically prioritizing those meters for replacement. Meter relocation is typically a two-step process involving the installation of an exterior meter pit first and then following later with the relocation of the interior meter to the outdoor, company-owned meter pit.  The actual meter relocation will occur depending on meter age and where it falls in the 10-year change out schedule. This could be immediately after the pit is installed or even weeks, months or years later.  

Meter Relocation offers Customer Benefits

• Convenience - Customers will no longer need to be at home waiting for a technician to remove the interior meter because no access is needed to the home.
• Safety - Eliminating in-home visits reduces the potential for imposters to pose as water company personnel trying to gain access to your home.
• Protection - A leaking meter, though infrequent, can damage your home’s interior and basement.  Moving these meters outdoors eliminates the risk of damage caused by a leaking meter.
• Maintenance - Maintenance of the meter environment when located in the home, and providing meter access to MWC service personnel is the customer’s responsibility. Once relocated to an exterior pit, meter maintenance is the company’s responsibility.
• Efficiency - Meter pits allows quicker and easier access by company personnel, which is especially important in emergencies.

“Installing the exterior meter pits as we are performing water main work in the same area is an efficient way to approach this initiative, said Brian Carr, Middlesex Water Director of Engineering. “The actual meter relocation from indoors to outdoors takes only a few minutes and can be accomplished when the meter reaches the end of its useful life,” he added.

Customers of affected premises will receive advance notice of scheduled meter work and relocation.  All meter relocation work will be performed by Middlesex Water personnel or its contractors at no cost to customers.  The location of the meter pit, typically in the planter area (between the curb and sidewalk) or in the sidewalk is based on field conditions such as buried underground utilities or available space.  Following the installation of an exterior meter pit, Middlesex will perform temporary restoration, followed by more complete restoration within one to three months, weather permitting. 

This program is one of several under the Company’s Water for Tomorrow® initiative designed to strengthen the water system infrastructure to help ensure greater reliability, safety and resiliency.

About Middlesex Water

Middlesex Water Company, (NASDAQ:MSEX) established in 1897 provides regulated and unregulated water and wastewater utility services in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania through various subsidiary companies. 

Contact:   Bernadette Sohler, Vice President – Corporate AffairsMiddlesex Water Company  [phone] www.middlesexwater.com