Marin Municipal Water District customers who want to keep their old-school water meter instead of a new wireless one will now pay for the privilege. The district has approved a $40 bimonthly fee for households that opt out of the agency's smart-meter rollout, and those customers will also lose their eligibility for leak-adjustment discounts on their water bills.
The fee applies only to single-family houses and duplexes, which together make up more than 85% of MMWD's customer meters, according to meter program manager Craig Lauridsen, as reported by the Marin Independent Journal. There's no separate setup charge for opting out, just the recurring bimonthly cost. Lauridsen said the opt-out program exists as a release valve for customers who may not want the new wireless technology, while still accounting for what it costs the district to keep sending someone out to read a meter by hand.
MMWD landed on the $40 figure in part because it genuinely doesn't know how many customers will decline the upgrade once it reaches their block. The district says it cannot legally charge opt-out customers more than its expected cost of manual meter reading, according to Lauridsen, though the fee itself can rise in the future. Staff have already recommended revisiting the number in about two years.
Crunching the Cost of a Manual Read
The math behind the fee is still something of a moving target. MMWD estimated that sending staff to manually read a single meter costs roughly $92 in gas and labor, the district told the paper. But if enough customers in the same service area opt out, the agency figures it can read several meters per trip and bring the per-meter cost down to about $60.
That uncertainty is exactly what worried water board member Matt Samson, who said he wants a more accurate cost estimate before the district locks in an appropriate number. Samson raised concerns that a $40 fee set too low could leave MMWD effectively subsidizing manual reads, which he warned might end up encouraging more customers to opt out rather than fewer.
What Opting Out Actually Changes
Opting out doesn't mean keeping an ancient meter forever. The opt-out applies specifically to wireless data transmission, not the physical meter device itself, Lauridsen said. If an opt-out customer's old meter eventually dies, MMWD may still install a newer, AMI-ready meter at the property, but its wireless transmission features simply won't be switched on. The district will also upgrade a property's meter whenever a customer moves out, and all new accounts are required to use the wireless system regardless of a previous owner's preference, per Lauridsen.
For customers who do go wireless, the appeal is mostly about visibility and convenience. Smart meters let users check their water usage online in 15-minute intervals, giving a much faster window into leaks or unusual spikes than a bimonthly paper bill ever could. Billing cycles themselves aren't changing, however, regardless of which option a household picks.
A Decade-Long Rollout Still Years From Done
MMWD has been easing into this technology slowly. The district has already transitioned about 5,670 account holders to wireless meters through three pilot projects dating back to 2018. That leaves roughly 55,000 accounts still to go, part of a broader rollout the district expects will span about a decade and cost around $24.6 million in total.
Per Marin Water, the agency expects to finish upgrading all 60,000 of its water meters by 2034. District officials say the broader transition is meant to improve conservation efforts, cut down on manual meter-reading costs, speed up leak detection, and ultimately help lower customer bills. Water board member Jed Smith said smart meters can boost operational efficiency and leak detection while saving money for both customers and the agency, and that the technology supports broader water-supply resilience.
How Marin's Fee Stacks Up Regionally
MMWD isn't the only water agency wrestling with how to price out customers who want to stay offline. North Marin Water District charges no setup fee at all for opting out, just a flat $10 bimonthly charge, far less than what MMWD has approved. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, Alameda County Water District's published rate schedule lists a $125 one-time setup fee plus a $48 manual-reading fee recurring every billing cycle.
The City of Davis takes a similar two-part approach, charging a $92 one-time setup fee along with a $26 monthly manual-reading fee for its own AMI opt-out program. Despite those varied structures elsewhere, MMWD is still expecting a relatively small number of its customers to actually choose the opt-out path once the fee takes effect, according to Lauridsen.
