Smarter Water Governance with AMI: Conservation, Affordability, and Rate Design (Request for Proposals)

Description: Evaluate how utilities are currently leveraging advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data to inform pricing, conservation programs (including emergency curtailment practices), affordability programs, and plans for future implementation. Analyze AMI data and assess how the data can be leveraged to develop and/or enhance conservation programs, policies, rates, and affordability programs. Investigate the potential for advanced analytics, including machine learning, of AMI datasets to support adaptive or dynamic rate structures, early detection of hardship or at-risk households, categorization of customer classes, dynamic tiering based on household size, and better targeting of affordability and conservation interventions. Applicants may request up to $275,000 in WRF funds for this project.