When water utilities consider smart valves, the return on investment often starts with a simple calculation: How much does it cost to send a crew into the field?
That is a good place to start. Every avoided truck roll can save labor, fuel, vehicle costs, administrative time and other expenses. But if the ROI calculation stops there, it can miss much of the value a smart valve provides.
A smart valve is not used only once. Over its service life, it can help a utility handle many different tasks remotely. The better question, then, is not simply, “How much did we save on this truck roll?” It is, “How much operational value can this valve create over its life?”
Start With the Costs You Can See
Truck rolls are easy to understand because their costs are measurable. A service visit requires an employee, a vehicle and time. It may also involve fuel, maintenance, insurance, scheduling and administrative work.
Those costs become even more important when a task requires two trips. A service disconnect for non-payment may require one visit to shut off the water and another to restore service after the customer pays.
Smart valves can remove those routine trips from the process. The utility can disconnect service remotely and restore it remotely when payment is received. That creates a clear and measurable financial benefit.
But it is only the beginning of the ROI story.
Give Your Workforce More Capacity
For many utilities, the problem is not simply the cost of sending someone into the field. It is finding someone available to send.
A utility has a limited number of employees and a long list of work that needs to be completed. Every hour spent driving to a property to perform a routine task is an hour that cannot be spent repairing infrastructure, responding to emergencies or completing other work that requires a person on site.
Remote valve control gives some of that time back. This does not mean reducing the workforce. It means making better use of the people already there. As Bobby Barker summarized in his ROI presentation, smart valves can help utilities do more with limited staff.
That workforce capacity has real value, even if it does not appear as a separate line on an ROI spreadsheet.
Faster Response Improves Customer Service
Consider what happens after a customer pays an overdue water bill. With a traditional process, the utility may need to create a work order, schedule a technician and send someone back to the property to restore service. The customer waits while the utility completes the process.
With a smart valve, service can be restored remotely. The same advantage can apply when customers move into or out of a home. Remote control can remove the need to coordinate a field visit for a routine service change.
The financial value may be harder to calculate than the cost of fuel or labor, but the operational improvement is clear. Employees spend less time managing routine field work, while customers receive faster service. Improving customer service is one of the three main benefits Barker identifies in his ROI presentation.
Employee Safety Is Part of the Business Case
Not every service visit is routine once an employee arrives at the property. Utility workers can encounter aggressive animals, blocked meter access, difficult weather and confrontational customers. Disconnecting service for non-payment can be an especially difficult interaction.
Remote operation can eliminate some of those encounters entirely. Employee safety can be difficult to express as a simple dollar amount, but that does not make it less valuable. If a task can be completed safely from the office without sending an employee into an unnecessary or potentially hostile situation, that benefit belongs in the larger business case.
One Valve Can Solve More Than One Problem
A smart valve installed to reduce disconnect and reconnect trips does not have to be limited to that purpose.
Geospace provides an ROI presentation that identifies other uses for remote valve control, including move-ins and move-outs, leaks, emergencies and seasonal residents. Each additional use creates another opportunity for the original investment to provide value.
That changes the ROI calculation.
A utility might justify a smart valve based on avoided disconnect and reconnect trips. But over time, the same valve could also help the utility respond to a leak, manage a seasonal account or shut off service during an emergency. The investment stays in the ground while the value continues to build.
Leak Response Adds Another Kind of Value
A leak illustrates why smart valve ROI cannot always be measured by the cost of a truck roll alone. Knowing about a leak is valuable. Being able to respond to it remotely can be even more valuable.
Remote control can allow a utility to take action while a crew is being dispatched or while the customer is being contacted. Depending on the situation, that can help limit water loss and reduce the time between identifying a problem and responding to it.
The value is not simply that a truck did or did not leave the yard. The value comes from having another way to respond.
Measure the Value Over the Life of the Valve
There is no single ROI calculation that applies to every utility. The number of service connections, frequency of disconnects, cost of field work and types of service calls all affect the result. This is why the strongest business case looks beyond one transaction.
Start with the costs that are easiest to measure, including avoided truck rolls, labor and vehicle expenses. Then consider the additional operational value: more workforce capacity, faster response, better customer service, improved employee safety, and the ability to use the same valve for several needs.
Here are three simple takeaways: smart valves can reduce operating costs, improve customer service and help utilities do more with limited staff.
Those benefits are connected. Together, they provide a better way to think about ROI.
A smart valve should not be judged only by the cost of the truck roll it eliminates today. Its real value is the work, time, risk and expense it can help a utility avoid throughout its service life.
