Doubled Overnight: Consolidating Seven Utilities into One

Doubled Overnight: Consolidating Seven Utilities into OneAbstractIn December 2020, Greenville County SC, concerned with economic regionalization, voted to consolidate seven wastewater collection Special Purpose Districts (SPD). Each SPD agreed to transfer services to MetroConnects. With strategic planning and communication, MetroConnects was determined to maintain high level of service. In July 2021, four of the SPDs were fully consolidated and MetroConnects had grown by 35%. By July 2022, two more SPDs were added, and by December 2022 the seventh and final SPD was consolidated. In two short years, MetroConnects overcame tight deadlines, added 45K customers, and 735 miles of sewer to grow by 100+%. To maintain level of service, three key data-driven tasks had to be accomplished leading up to each transfer of service: Customer Billing and Account Identification, Operations and Maintenance Consolidation, and GIS and records integration. The first and most important task was to transfer customer billing so new bills could be sent to customers ahead of each transfer. Billing continuity and customer identification was the priority, but this is where the first challenge presented itself. MetroConnects billed customers on a consumption-based system whereas the incoming utilities used a tax-based method. To transition in time to meet deadlines, MetroConnects worked with the local water service providers to provide records and used precise GIS techniques to locate and geocode 45K customer points. Next, MetroConnects needed to comprehend each of the SPD's information management systems to include data from the following key areas: GIS, engineering, O MetroConnects 2;SourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Feb 2024DOI10.2175/193864718825159327Volume / Issue Content sourceUtility Management ConferenceWord count8