Houston Council Votes Wednesday on $5.5 Million More for the Smart Water Meter Contract That Bills the City
The Sensus deal, signed in 2020 with a $38 million cap, would rise to $43.5 million. The city has spent $34.3 million so far on the meter network at the center of Houston's long water-billing fight - and Public Works says the new money keeps it running through 2027.
Houston City Council is set to vote Wednesday on another $5.5 million for the city's smart water meter network, an appropriation that would push the Sensus USA contract past the spending cap the city set when it signed the deal six years ago. The money would come from the Water and Sewer System Consolidated Construction Fund and go to Sensus, which has run the city's Advanced Metering Infrastructure, or AMI, system since 2020. If approved, the contract's total value would rise to $43.5 million.
Council first awarded the Sensus contract on November 24, 2020, under Ordinance No. 2020-0992 - a 10-year deal with a $38 million maximum, with $18.5 million put up at the start, according to KPRC 2 reporting. In October 2024, council approved another $16,054,610 under Ordinance No. 2024-0768, though that vote did not raise the $38 million ceiling. The city has spent $34,322,180.55 on the project so far. Houston Public Works told KPRC the new money is needed because of higher material costs, rising equipment prices and growing operating expenses that were not expected when the contract was written, and said the $5.5 million should keep AMI operations going through the end of 2027. The department also said both the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency require the service, which it said is meant to reduce the risk of loss of life and property from flooding during extreme weather.
The vote lands after years of complaints about Houston water bills. A city presentation to a council committee in May traced the problems to aging meter equipment, failed remote reading devices, limited capacity to read meters by hand, and estimated bills that were later corrected with large catch-up charges. The city has installed more than 120,000 remote reading devices since April 2024 and replaced more than 110,000 meter registers - but more than 340,000 of the city's 514,000 meters were more than 20 years old, and more than 240,000 still lacked updated remote reading devices. KPRC also reported that Public Works installed the wrong meter equipment at more than 600 homes during the 2024 replacement push, an error found in January 2026 and corrected that March. Mayor John Whitmire's administration resumed collections this fall, starting with about 15,000 customers who together owe about $30 million. "This was another significant issue I inherited, and we have spent the past two years fixing it," Whitmire said in August. Under council rules, any member can delay an agenda item for a week, so a final decision on the meter money could slip to next week's meeting.
