Troy residents soon will have more tools to conserve and track electricity usage.

The Troy City council this week awarded a $1.3 million contract to HD Supply, a distributor that will supply the city with new meters that can be read electronically rather than manually.

The electronic meter system, made by a company named Sensus, will allow customers to track their electricity usage by logging into a website free of charge.

“Once the meters are all installed, customers will be able to log into the website monthly, hourly or even daily if they’d like to,” Troy Utilities General Manager Brian Chandler said. “They will able to get information if the want to conserve electricity and see when it is most used throughout the day. They’ll be able to check when it is convenient for them.”

Chandler said all meters in the city will be updated to the new system starting in November and the process will take nine to 12 months to complete.

Chandler said this project is one that Troy Mayor Jason Reeves set as a priority for the city.

“The electric meter system will allow for customers to monitor their usage and allow for service to be turned on remotely without sending crews on site,” Reeves said. “They also open the possibility for a staggered billing system to possibly improve customer service on both the service and office side of our electric utility service allowing for a more efficient use of resources.”

The city of Brundidge recently converted to the same system, which the Alabama Power Company has had in place for several years.

“This is a well tested, tried and true system that will be a good fit for Troy,” Chandler said.

Chandler said there are plans to incorporate water utilities into the new system within one or two years, so that customers can track their water usage as well.

The Troy wastewater treatment plant on Walnut Creek will also be receiving and upgrade soon.

The Troy city council approved a bid award of $2,789,106 to The Creel Co. for the improvements. SRF (State Revolving Funds) will pay for this project. This is phase one of a total of $5.2 million available to the city through SRF.

“That money is going to equipment upgrades at the plant,” Troy Utilities Assistant General Manager Mike Davis said.“ Everything there is 20 plus years old, we are spending money to extend the life of the equipment for another ten or more years.”

Davis said he expects the project to be completed by the end of 2014.