Template revised January 10, 2019.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No. 8g
ACTION ITEM Date of Meeting August 12, 2025
DATE: July 7, 2025
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: William Shelton - Contractor, Capital Project Manager
Jennifer Maietta, Director, Real Estate Asset Management
Stephanie Jones-Stebbins, Managing Director, Maritime
SUBJECT: Waterfront Smart Meters (C801269)
Amount of this request: $4,000,000
Total estimated program cost: $13,000,000
ACTION REQUESTED
Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to approve additional funding for
design and construction of the Waterfront Smart Meters Program in the amount of $4,000,000
for a total authorized amount of $4,475,000.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Initially authorized by Commission in September 2024, the Waterfront Smart Meters program
(CIP C801269) will accomplish the following objectives:
Upgrade existing metering infrastructure across waterfront properties to smart meters
for accurate, remote, automated, real-time data collection to meet future city and state
energy and greenhouse gas reporting requirements.
Install related equipment (gateways, cellular communication, conduits, network switches,
etc.) needed to establish a secure and reliable communication network between smart
meters and the Port’s Energy Management System (EMS), currently under development.
Buildings and level of metering are being prioritized through the phasing of this CIP to meet city
and state energy compliance requirement deadlines. At the program level, it is anticipated that
about 164 electric and natural gas meters would be installed, but this number will be refined as
design advances. This request will fund the construction of the first set of meters to be installed
and continuing design effort.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8g Page 2 of 6
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
JUSTIFICATION
Much of the waterfront utilities are currently being metered using traditional utility meters which
require manual recording to determine energy use. Manual reading of utility meters is inefficient,
costly, and can be inaccurate. In addition, the City of Seattle and the State of Washington are
currently changing their energy reporting requirements to require the utilization of smart meters
for energy use reporting purposes.
The Port’s Maritime Environmental and Sustainability Department (ME&S) procured the services
of a consultant in 2021 to survey the Port’s existing Waterfront infrastructure to make
preliminary building-meter assignments, as well as provide key findings and recommendations
for implementation of smart meters across the Port’s Waterfront Facilities. Using the results from
the survey, ME&S developed the smart meter program which looks to install electric, water and
gas smart meters across waterfront facilities. Deployment of this technology is being phased and
prioritized to meet compliance requirements.
This project is in support of the Port's Century Agenda goal to be the greenest, most energy
efficient port in North America. It will enable the Port to comply with local and state energy
codes, enable accurate and transparent calculation of Energy Use Intensity to meet the WA Clean
Building Performance Standard (CBPS), and provide efficient energy-use data gathering needed
to better identify and plan future building energy efficiency projects.
Installation of Smart Meters will provide the following benefits:
Electricity monitoring at 10-minute intervals.
Natural gas monitoring at 1-hour intervals or better.
Greenhouse gas emissions monitoring.
Revenue-grade utility monitoring.
Enable facility managers to identify equipment issues.
Enable remote reading of utility meters to increase safety, save time, and improve
accuracy.
Compliance with Clean Building Performance Standard.
Compliance with Building Emissions Performance Standard.
Compliance with Seattle Commercial Energy Code.
Data to perform capital planning for converting HVAC and domestic hot water from
natural gas to electricity.
Diversity in Contracting
The design is being accomplished by Port of Seattle engineering staff while construction will be
executed by PCS.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8g Page 3 of 6
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
DETAILS
This project includes installation of natural gas, water, and electric smart meters and all
associated conduit, cable, LTE connections, network switches, and gateway infrastructure. These
meters will also be connected to the Port’s energy management system where the data from the
meters will be stored for future analysis and reporting. This funding will enable the construction
of the Phase 1 Smart Meters and the design of Phase 2 Smart Meters as well as potentially the
design of other future phases of the smart meter program.
Scope of Work
The following buildings will have existing meters replaced and/or new smart meters installed to
monitor building level energy use.
Phase 1 (Construction):
Pier 66 Conference Center and Cruise Terminal
Terminal 91 Smith Cove Cruise Terminal and C-175
World Trade Center West
Marine Maintenance Building A-1
Fishermen’s Terminal C-15
Phase 2 (Design):
Fisherman’s Terminal campus
T91, Buildings A-1, C-155, C-173
Maritime Industrial Center Building A-1
Pier 66 Anthony’s Restaurant
Future Phases (Design):
Other Port Maritime Facilities yet to be identified by Environmental Sustainability
Design scope:
1. Develop 30%, 60%, 90%, 100%, and ready for award drawings and specifications.
2. Develop cost estimates for construction phase of project.
3. Environmental and permitting support.
4. Coordination with Port of Seattle ICT and the new EMS provider.
5. PCS pre-award support and coordination.
Each smart meter will need to be connected to an Energy Management System (EMS) to allow
for remote reading. The ME&S and ICT teams are currently working on selecting a new EMS
provider within the next six months under a separate project. Design of the smart meters will not
be completed until an EMS provider is on board to allow for coordination.
Construction scope:
1. Install new smart meters or replace existing meters with smart meters.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8g Page 4 of 6
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
2. Install conduit and cable from smart meters to EMS communication hardware which will
also be installed under this scope.
3. Provide an LTE connection between some smart meters and the EMS gateway as
indicated in the design.
4. Ensure smart meters are connected to the Port’s network and are communicating with
the Port’s new EMS.
Schedule
Activity
Preliminary Design start February 2024
Commission authorization for Phase 1 design September 2024
Commission authorization for additional design/construction August 2025
Procurement of new EMS complete (estimated – separate project) Q1 2026
Smart Meters construction start (first phase) Q2 2026
Smart Meters construction complete (first phase) Q1 2027
Commission authorization for additional design/construction Q2 2027
In-use date (all meters) Q4 2029
Cost Breakdown This Request
Total Program
Design $500,000
$975,000
Construction $3,500,000
$3,500,000
Program Total $4,475,000
$13,000,000
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
Alternative 1 – Defer installation of smart meters and rely on utility billing data for energy
information and conduct required audits as a means of achieving compliance with city and state
law.
Pros:
(1) Preserve capital capacity for other projects.
Cons:
(1) Meter reading will need to be done manually, which is time consuming and labor
intensive.
(2) Potential for reporting errors due to manual readings.
(3) Without installing these smart meters, the Port may not meet future state and local
energy reporting requirements. As a result, the Port may need to expend further
funding to install energy-efficiency measures (EEM) to meet clean building performance
standards.
This is not the recommended alternative.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8g Page 5 of 6
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
Alternative 2 – Install smart meters at all waterfront facilities at once
Pros:
(1) Allows for installation of all meters across the waterfront facilities.
(2) Potential for decreased cost as work will be done all at once.
Cons:
(1) Does not allow for prioritization of facilities. May result in not meeting City and State
energy reporting requirements.
(2) Increased risk of design issues being compounded across all facilities. Performing the
work in phases allows lessons learned to be easily developed and implemented in future
phases.
This is not the recommended alternative.
Alternative 3 – Install smart meters in phases over multiple years, prioritizing facilities that need
smart meters sooner than others to meet city and state reporting requirements
Pros:
(1) Allows for prioritizing facilities to meet city and state reporting requirement deadlines.
(2) Allows for implementation of lessons learned from one set of meters to the next.
(3) Allows for changing design approach in future years of meter installation.
(4) Allows for more time to develop better designs for non-time critical meters.
Cons:
(1) Potential for increased cost due to work being done by potentially different contractors
over a series of years.
(2) Increase in the Port’s Overhead as there will need to be multiple designs developed.
This is the recommended alternative.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
COST ESTIMATE
Capital Expense Total
Original Program Estimate $13,000,000
$0
$13,000,000
Current Change $0
$0
$0
AUTHORIZATION
Previous authorizations $475,000
$0
$475,000
Current request for authorization
$4,000,000
$0
$4,000,000
Total authorizations, including this request
$4,475,000
$0
$4,475,000
Remaining amount to be authorized
$8,525,000
$0
$8,525,000
Annual Budget Status and Source of Funds
This program was included in the 2025 Capital Plan under Waterfront Smart Meters (C801269)
at an estimated total program cost of $13,321,000 over the next four years.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8g Page 6 of 6
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
This project will be funded by the General Fund.
Financial Analysis and Summary
Program cost for analysis $13,000,000
Business Unit (BU) Waterfront Portfolio Management, Cruise Operations, Marine
Maintenance, and Ship Canal Fishing & Operations
Effect on business
performance (NOI after
depreciation)
Annual depreciation will increase by approximately $414K
based on estimated 30-year service life, thereby reducing the
NOI by the same amount.
IRR/NPV (if relevant) NA
CPE Impact NA
Future Revenues and Expenses (Total cost of ownership)
This project will provide accurate meter readings for billing and compliance purposes at maritime
facilities across the Port. Meters will be able to be read remotely, saving the Port time and money.
Accurate and timely meter readings will enable the Port to precisely bill tenants for utility costs,
monitor energy usage, and run analyses to better understand how the Port is using energy. This
will preserve the economic vitality of our operations and serve the Port, tenants, and their
customers well by providing a safe and sustainable working environment.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
n/a
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REQUEST
(1) Presentation slides
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
September 10, 2024 - Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to approve
design funding in the amount of $350,000 for the Waterfront Smart Meters Phase 1 Project for a
total authorized amount of $475,000.