Halifax Water has asked to switch meters at a cost of $25.4 million, a step it says would eventually mean monthly — and more accurate — billing.

The plan is to swap manually read meters on homes and businesses for ones that send data electronically to the water authority, spokesperson James Campbell said Thursday.

"That's fantastic," he said. "Your meter will tell you exactly what's being consumed and it will tell the utility exactly what's being consumed."

Start this summer

Halifax Water's pitch must be approved by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, a timeline for which Campbell did not have.

But the authority plans to roll out the new meters to "a few hundred" homes and businesses this summer.

The rest would be installed starting in 2017 and will take around four years, he said.

Halifax Water spokesman James Campbell says the authority is launching a web portal for customers to track usage. (CBC)

'Accurate' bills

Halifax Water has been known in the past to estimate water bills, instead of reading the exact amount used.

"Sometimes the estimation is low and sometimes the estimation is high," Campbell said.

"It would greatly reduce the number of estimations."

Halifax Water says bills will be more accurate and more frequent. (CBC)

The new information "will be accurate," Campbell said, and eventually available to the customer online hourly.

The more easily gathered data will allow customers to be billed each month instead of once every three months, he said.

Staffing changes

Halifax Water likely will need fewer staff to read the meters, Campbell said, adding the number has not been finalized.

"We're going to try to work with our metering staff and ... retrain as many as we possibly can," he said.

Halifax Water mostly recently reached a contract deal with CUPE locals 227 and 1431 last summer, ending a strike almost two months old.

A main sticking point for the union was proposed changes to employee pension plans.

Halifax Water union members were on strike last year for almost two months. (Molly Segal / CBC)

'They can use less'

Halifax Water's goal is to be more efficient and environmentally friendly, Campbell said.

The organization plans to set up an online portal so customers can monitor consumption hourly.

"If they feel like they're using a little too much water and their bill might be too high that month, they can use less," he said.