Signal Failure: Software Update Curbs Plano’s Smart Water Meter System
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After an alert Plano resident asked why a municipal worker was looking at their water meter, CandysDirt.com has confirmed the cause: A vendor’s failed firmware update has curbed the city’s smart water meter system. Now, Plano will spend an estimated $765,000 over the next two years to manually read water meters for an estimated 88,000 homes and businesses — a significant cost that city officials say they hope to recover from the vendor.
In recent weeks, alert homeowners in Plano have noticed an influx of municipal workers milling about their curbs. The news broke after one resident took to Reddit.com to report what the city had not yet formally announced.
“I live off of Legacy and 75, and I saw a city worker looking into my water meter early this morning,” the original poster wrote in the r/Plano subreddit. “He explains that all 88K homes in Plano — the meters are no longer sending a signal to the city to report the monthly water usage.”
“He said they all need to be replaced. And until that’s done, people are having to manually go to each home and read each meter to know how much to bill.”
The post stoked the flames of conjecture and sparked concern over the additional cost of these vest-clad visitors. After higher property taxes and increased water bills in Plano last fall, residents were understandably frustrated.
“This is going to cost the taxpayer money,” one user responded.
“This is fishy,” another added.
“I can’t imagine in 2025 going into someone’s backyard. If no one answers the door, it’s staying unread. Good way of getting shot,” wrote another.
Welcome to the Internet of Things
Officials say it’s not supposed to cost residents an additional hit on their already rising water bills. Plano City Council Member Shelby Williams shed light on the situation, confirming that the issue stemmed from a failed firmware update.
“Over the last several years, we have replaced the water meters with ones that have the ability to transmit electronic readings,” Williams said. “Unfortunately, the vendor recently pushed out an update that prevented the transmission of automatic readings to our operations. So, we’ve had to hire temporary workers to read the meters the old-fashioned way by manually reporting on each one.”
Plano entered a nearly $10.2 million contract in 2019 with Core & Main LP, an equipment supplier for Aclara, maker of the smart water meter technology, the Dallas Morning News found. That contract rose to $10.6 million in 2021. The units were supposed to last 20 years, but the city noticed battery failures as early as 2023. When the vendor pushed a fix in November 2024, the software malfunctioned, knocking out over 73,000 meters.
Similar issues with Aclara’s technology have surfaced in other cities, including Minneapolis, Toronto, and New York City. St. Louis-based Aclara Technologies designs, develops, and markets what are called advanced metering infrastructure solutions for water, electric, and gas utilities.
Recouping The Costs
Plano City Council has already approved $765,000 in emergency funding — $345,000 this fiscal year and $420,000 next — to pay a McKinney staffing agency for temporary workers. The money will come from the city’s water and sewer fund.
However, Williams said the city is in talks with Aclara and Core & Main about cost recovery.
“We’re currently exploring legal options within the contract in the case that we can’t come to an agreement,” said Williams. “Unfortunately, we can’t say how long this will be an issue. It will necessitate replacing the transmission units in the meters, and we just don’t know how long that will take.”
To address concerns that these manual meter readers may misreport or overcharge customers, Williams says there are measures in place to ensure both accuracy and accountability.
“Of course, there is always the issue of human error,” says Williams. “However, we read meters this way for many years in the past and have very good practices in place to ensure accuracy. If someone believes their meter has been read incorrectly, we also have processes by which they can report it to the city to recoup any undue expenses.”
In a city like Plano, there isn’t much that goes unnoticed — and residents’ vigilance brought the issue to light before the city publically addressed it. While officials work to resolve the crisis, Plano residents will see a relic of pre-internet life: human curb-to-curb meter readers.
What You Should Know
To check their manually reported water usage, Plano residents may log into their Customer Portal account to find an hourly usage chart for their address. Account enrollment requires information found on your most current bill.
TIP: In addition to any meter reading errors, Plano residents may be eligible for a water bill adjustment if they find and fix a water leak on their property. The courtesy leak credit varies from $25-$350 by billed consumption. Here’s the form to use.
