CITY OF PELLA MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC UTILITY
Pella, Iowa
Request for Proposals
ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE (AMI)
METERING SYSTEM AND INTEGRATION SERVICES
Prepared by:
City of Pella Municipal Electric Utility
Funded in part by the
Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA)
and the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program
(Authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act)
RFP Release Date: April 20, 2026
Proposal Due Date and Time: 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, 2026
Submission Location:
Pella Municipal Electric Utility
222 Truman Rd
Pella, Iowa 50219
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
Section 2 Project Objectives and Evaluation Framework............................................................... 4
Section 3 Minimum Technical and Functional Requirements ...................................................... 8
Section 4 Instructions to Proposers......................................................................................................13
Section 5 Terms, Conditions, and Grant Compliance .....................................................................17
Appendix A Proposal Pricing Schedule ....................................................................................................19
Appendix B Critical Energy Infrastructure Non-Disclosure Agreement .....................................24
SECTION 1: Introduction
The City of Pella Municipal Electric Utility is undertaking a system-wide Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) modernization project to improve reliability, operational ef�iciency,
billing accuracy, and grid resilience for all electric customers within the City of Pella. This
project is funded in part through the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) under
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program, authorized by
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). As such, all equipment, procurement
processes, documentation, and reporting requirements must comply with applicable
federal regulations, including Build America, Buy America (BABA) provisions, federal
procurement standards, and DOE program guidance.
The goal of this AMI project is to replace approximately 5,300 existing electric meters
across residential, commercial, and industrial accounts with modern, IP-based, fully
integrated AMI metering technology. The new system will leverage the City’s existing
Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network where available and utilize secure wireless
connectivity where �iber backhaul is not directly accessible. The AMI system shall be
designed to operate without routine reliance on external communication enclosures,
bolt-on radios, collectors, or neighborhood gateway devices, and shall instead incorporate
all primary communication functions—wired or wireless—behind the meter glass as part
of the factory-sealed design. However, in limited cases where the City’s FTTP network is not
available to provide a direct IP backhaul path for a speci�ic geographic area, the use of
external communication devices may be permitted. Any such devices shall be used solely to
provide network connectivity in FTTP-limited areas, shall interface directly with the
utility’s IP infrastructure, and shall not rely on cellular, proprietary radio systems,
third-party network backhaul, or serve as multi-meter collectors or neighborhood
communication hubs.
For planning and evaluation purposes, the City has prepared supplemental GIS reference
data identifying approximate electric meter locations, �iber ONT locations, and streetlight
infrastructure to assist proposers in understanding the system environment.
Because this project utilizes federal funding, the City of Pella has engaged in due diligence
with the DOE BABA-MAX Technical Assistance program to evaluate domestic availability of
AMI metering solutions. DOE’s technical assistance indicated that very few commercially
available AMI electric meters currently meet BABA domestic content thresholds for
residential and commercial deployments, and that the limited BABA-compliant industrial
metering equipment available is neither technically suitable nor �inancially practical for
widespread deployment across the City’s service territory. Accordingly, the City intends to
submit a BABA non-availability waiver request, supported by DOE’s documented �indings.
Vendors responding to this RFP must provide all required domestic-content documentation
and shall support the City’s BABA waiver submission as needed.
AMI meters and �ield equipment will be installed by Pella Municipal Electric Utility
personnel. The successful vendor will be responsible for providing all system integration
services, including head-end software con�iguration, communication system integration,
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meter provisioning support, cybersecurity con�iguration, training, and commissioning. The
resulting AMI system must provide reliable interval data collection; outage and restoration
noti�ications; voltage and power quality metrics; event logs; secure �irmware maintenance;
and seamless communication across residential, polyphase, and transformer-rated
metering installations.
As part of the City’s operational requirements, the AMI system must fully integrate with the
City’s existing Civic Systems / Caselle Clarity Utility Billing System. The AMI system must
deliver monthly, per-meter time-segmented energy usage, including on-peak, off-peak, and
mid-peak watthour consumption in accordance with Caselle’s data import speci�ications.
The system must also provide timestamped 15-minute interval peak demand
measurements (kW) for customers who qualify for demand-based billing, ensuring
accurate demand determination and billing in accordance with the City’s established rate
structures. In addition, the system must capture and report reactive power (kVAR), power
factor, and related power-quality metrics to support load monitoring, system diagnostics,
and evaluation of customer demand characteristics during on-peak and off-peak periods.
Standard Class 200 Form 2S meters supplied under this project must include a remote
disconnect capability, fully integrated behind the meter glass, to support service
connection, disconnection, and reconnection functions. The AMI system must also support
bi-directional, detented watthour measurements for accurate accounting of both delivered
and received energy for customers with distributed generation, including solar and other
behind-the-meter renewable technologies. Vendors must provide secure, automated
data-exchange work�lows that ensure dependable synchronization between the AMI system
and the City’s billing platform to maintain accuracy in billing, rate structures, time-of-use
programs, and distributed-generation settlements.
In support of customer engagement and transparency, the AMI system shall include or
support a secure, web-based and mobile-accessible Customer Interaction Portal that
provides near real-time visibility into electric usage, time-segmented energy consumption,
demand values, and available power-quality information. The portal shall operate
independently of the City’s existing Civic Systems / Caselle Clarity Utility Billing System.
The portal shall also be capable of displaying water-usage data once the City deploys
compatible water-metering technologies, including interval or daily water-consumption
history and usage trends. Customers shall have the option to enroll in automated alerts for
both electric and water usage, including high-usage noti�ications, abnormal-consumption
alerts, potential leak-detection alerts, continuous-�low warnings, or other exception-based
conditions derived from AMI data. Although water-system integration is not included
within the scope of this project, the AMI system and customer portal shall be designed and
evaluated for compatibility with future water-metering endpoints, including ERT-based
devices, to support seamless integration in subsequent phases of system deployment.
The AMI system shall be designed to support future demand-response (DR) and
demand-voltage response (DVR) programs as part of the City’s long-term
grid-modernization and resiliency strategy. While implementation of DR or DVR programs
is not included within the scope of the current project, the system architecture must be
capable of securely supporting utility-initiated load and voltage-response strategies based
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on real-time and interval metering data. This includes the ability to communicate with
customer-side load-control devices or devices with voltage-responsive functionality, such
as air-conditioning condenser controls, electric water heaters, electric vehicle supply
equipment (EVSE), and other controllable or responsive loads. The AMI platform shall
support standards-based, IP-connected control and veri�ication work�lows delivered over
utility-owned network infrastructure and shall enable future customer participation,
noti�ication, and reporting through the AMI head-end and customer-interaction portal
without requiring fundamental changes to the deployed system.
All metering devices furnished under this speci�ication shall be factory-tested and certi�ied
for accuracy by a NIST-traceable source. Meter accuracy veri�ication shall follow the testing
principles established in Iowa Administrative Code 199—21.6, including evaluation at
intermediate and maximum load points and determination of meter error using the
algebraic average of these test results. The vendor shall provide complete electronic test
data for each meter, including serial number, test points, and percent error at each point, in
a standard digital format such as .csv or .xlsx suitable for the City’s internal
quality-assurance and recordkeeping processes.
This speci�ication establishes the minimum technical, performance, cybersecurity,
interoperability, and integration requirements for the procurement of the City’s
next-generation AMI metering system. The City seeks a long-term, scalable,
standards-based solution that enhances operational capability, improves grid monitoring,
supports future automation and resiliency initiatives, and aligns with DOE’s grid resilience
objectives.
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This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.