FAQs
Answers to your most frequently asked questions about Mountain States!
General
Utilities and local governments operate in a complex environment. From regulatory pressure and population growth to rising service expectations and budget constraints, the challenges are constant. That’s why Mountain States brings deep industry experience tailored specifically to the organizations we serve.
Our role goes far beyond providing solutions to handle day-to-day operations. We work alongside your team as a strategic partner to help you streamline processes, improve service delivery, adapt to changing industry demands, and operate more effectively over the long term.
Mountain States is a distributor of water and gas products to utilities in the western United States.
MSS focuses exclusively on:
- Smart metering, AMI, and AMR
- Water and gas metering systems
- Network planning and deployment
- Utility infrastructure coordination
- Integration with United Systems’ leading utility billing/CIS and process solutions
We do not operate as a general distributor or reseller. We focus on utility infrastructure.
Mountain States offers a comprehensive suite of solutions tailored for utilities and local governments, partly through our parent company, United Systems & Software (more thoroughly explained in the “Software & Development” section), including:
- Utility management applications
- Advanced metering solutions
- Integrated payment processing
- Digital service orders
- Online account access and utility websites
- Managed IT and network services
These services, which can all work together seamlessly, help utilities modernize operations, enhance efficiency, and improve customer service.
Mountain States combines:
- Regional western expertise
- Proven metering manufacturer partnerships
- Deployment accountability
- Long-term hardware supply support
- Direct utility software integration through United Systems
We focus on building infrastructure that remains serviceable for 15–20 years, not short lifecycle deployments.
Mountain States’ customers are:
- Municipal utility providers
- Public utility providers
- Water and gas districts
- Rural and mid-sized regional systems
- Colorado
- New Mexico
- Arizona
- Utah
- Wyoming
- West Texas
- Oregon
- Washington
- Northern Idaho
Yes. Mountain States supports both small rural districts and larger municipal systems.
Mountain States has more than 70 years of experience supporting municipal and regional utilities in the western United States.
Our team understands:
- Rural and low-density service territories
- Terrain-driven network challenges
- Capital budget cycles
- Board-level approval processes
- Long-term infrastructure planning
We operate with an infrastructure mindset, not a short-term sales model.
Utilities in our coverage area often face:
- Elevation changes
- Mountain ridges
- Low-density housing
- Harsh weather conditions
Mountain States evaluates RF propagation, collector placement, and hybrid network strategies to ensure reliable performance.
Every customer is unique! When you onboard with Mountain States, we’ll help you meet your general needs as a utility or local government, and we’ll help you address specific needs based on your local regulations, customers, and community.
Yes! Mountain States’ solutions are designed to:
- Reduce labor and material costs
- Increase productivity
- Minimize manual and repetitive tasks
- Enhance internal and customer communications
- Safeguard utility and customer data
Also, because United Systems can provide multiple components to benefit your operation, you can save time, money, and frustration by working with a single provider rather than trying to coordinate with multiple companies!
All smart meters generate data, but the value comes from their consistency and how you can use them.
Through integration with United Systems’ UPM (Utility Process Management) platform, Mountain States deployments can support:
- Automated billing read imports
- Customer payment and usage portals
- Digital work orders
- Reduced reconciliation errors
- And more!
This software and services alignment reduces operational friction after installation.
Mountain States is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Systems and aligns with their smart metering offerings, project management capabilities, and utility technology solutions.
This alignment allows metering deployments to benefit from:
- Utility management applications
- Integrated payment processing
- Digital service orders
- Online account access and utility websites
- Managed IT and networking service
The result is a powerful partnership benefiting your entire utility operation, from the field to the front office.
Yes! Contact United Systems if your organization is outside the Mountain States region.
You can reach out to Mountain States for:
- AMR or AMI system evaluations
- Smart meter product information
- Deployment planning
- Integration with utility billing software
- Replacement hardware supply
- Network performance support
We respond to utility inquiries with direct technical guidance, not automated responses.
Software & Development
Yes. Mountain States supports integration with United Systems’ Utility Process Management (UPM) software platform to streamline your billing and operational workflows.
Utility Process Management (UPM) is United Systems’ integrated approach to utility services!
UPM combines all of United Systems’ core utility-specific offerings, including utility management software, mobile service orders, payment processing, print and mail services, and specialized IT support, into a seamless ecosystem that helps you improve your utility’s efficiency and effectiveness.
With UPM, you’ll see a positive and lasting change that helps boost your customer service, improve accuracy, minimize data entry, reduce operational costs, and more!
UPM offers dozens of customizable reports and historical usage tracking. This includes reports that show how much product customers used, flag unusual usage, show your rate setup, alert you to missed meter readings, and much more.
With United Systems reports, you’re just a click away from all the data you need!
United Systems‘ software is designed first and foremost for utilities and local governments. United Systems has worked alongside these types of organizations for decades, learning their operational goals and tailoring its products to solve their unique problems.
United doesn’t offer generic solutions. Its products and services have a wide variety of options and customizations so you can tailor them to meet your specific needs.
Yes, it can be, but your current provider has to be responsive to your requests (which, unfortunately, is often the hiccup).
United Systems has a proven migration and onboarding process that minimizes downtime and ensures data accuracy. You’ll have a Project Manager from United Systems’ in-house support team who will work closely with your staff to assist with data conversion, testing, and training to make the transition as smooth and headache-free as possible.
At a high level, you should expect these benefits:
- Scalability: Easily add new features and functionalities without the hassle, downtime, and cost of upgrading or purchasing new equipment.
- Remote access: Manage billing, reporting, and service requests from anywhere.
- Data security and compliance: Back up and encrypt your data for better security and speedy disaster recovery.
- Cost efficiency: Save money with reduced reliance on onsite servers and IT maintenance.
Expect these benefits if you choose United Systems for your cloud-based software needs.
Choosing a new system for your utility is no easy task! Here are some things to consider:
- Integration and compatibility: Can it connect with existing systems? The system should be compatible with existing smart meter providers, GIS mapping systems, online payments, financial software, and service order applications. Almost always, the fewer vendors involved, the better!
- User-friendliness: Is the interface intuitive for both staff and customers? Utility management software needs to be simple to use, so avoid systems that require a lot of steps to do basic, everyday tasks, as this will result in inefficiencies and errors. Likewise, customer portals should be simple to use to avoid payment delays and unnecessary frustration and calls from your customers.
- Cloud-based: Is the product cloud-based or does it require an on-premise server? Cloud-based systems better position you for growth, provide remote access features, provide enhanced data security and compliance components, and allow you to avoid expensive servers and related IT costs.
- Security and compliance: Does the system meet industry standards for data protection? Is the provider SOC 2 certified and able to securely manage and store customer data? A “no” answer for either of these questions puts you at risk!
- Customer portal: Does the system integrate with a customer portal? Is that portal more than just a payment portal? Customers want easy access to pay their bills and view usage and transaction information, so choose software that ties directly to a web portal where they can access this information anytime, anywhere. Plus, you benefit from the time and cost savings that go along with more of your customers managing their own payments.
- Support and training: Does the provider offer ongoing training and customer service? Are they known for their customer support? Sometimes, deficiencies in customer service are forgotten alongside the sales and marketing glitter of a prospective new software package. Ensure you work with a provider who makes customer support a top priority.
- Reporting: Is the system known for its reporting capabilities? Concise, customizable reports are a hallmark of the best utility metering, billing, and CIS applications.
Smart Metering
Smart metering is any kind of system that helps automate your meter data collection process. With a smart metering system, you can gather meter readings remotely, usually by walking or driving by meter locations, or by collecting readings automatically from the office!
Each kind of system has different considerations and variable up-front costs, so one setup may be better for your utility than another.
Smart metering can help your utility in all sorts of ways! Using these systems can help you gather readings or re-read meters faster, making your staff more efficient. As a bonus, you can get much more information than just meter readings, including unusual usage, potential tampers, and leaks!
Here are some of the benefits:
- Accurate, real-time data collection
- Reduced manual meter readings
- Enhanced leak detection
- Improved billing accuracy
- Better resource management
Smart meters allow utilities to detect leaks, outages, and unusual usage patterns in real time, reducing response times and improving service reliability. They also reduce or eliminate manual meter reading, decreasing labor costs and human errors.
Utility customers also benefit from usage insights, which help them monitor and adjust their consumption to prevent major issues and save money.
Yes, your utility could see significant savings! Smart metering systems allow you to gather meter readings more quickly and efficiently, so you can do more without hiring additional staff.
With an AMI system, you can also potentially shut off meters remotely. That means workers won’t have to manually cut off services in the field for nonpayment or after closing an account.
In addition, smart meter systems can detect unusual usage, allowing you to stay on top of problems in your system, like theft or non-revenue water (NRW), before you have a costly issue on your hands.
While AMI provides more automation and operational efficiency, AMR is often viewed as a lower-cost first step toward modernization:
- Automated Meter Reading (AMR) is a one-way communication system that collects meter data remotely, typically via drive-by or walk-by methods. Meter readers can collect data transmitted via radio signal from meters, and this can greatly improve the speed of meter reading.
- Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is a two-way communication system that enables real-time or near-real-time data collection, allows remote meter management (such as remote turnoff), and provides a variety of helpful analytics. Rather than meter readers going to physical locations to gather meter readings each cycle, those readings will be sent to your utility office directly.
Traditional AMI systems use a series of repeaters to transmit radio signals from customer meters to your utility.
On the flipside, Cellular AMI enables you to utilize existing cellular networks from Verizon or AT&T to acquire that meter information. This means you won’t have to set up repeaters, collectors, and so on, ultimately saving you time and money. And because there’s less equipment to maintain with Cellular AMI, less maintenance is required. Cellular systems can also be more resilient in bad weather conditions.
Traditional AMI networks, however, are more suitable for locations where cellular connectivity is unreliable or unavailable altogether.