(KMZA)--The Seneca City Council is moving forward with an automated meter reading system.

On the recommendation of City Administrator Matt Rehder, the Council Wednesday evening voted to purchase of an electric meter reading system first. 

The system will be purchased from Core and Main, of Olathe, for $220,000.  That includes new electric meters, infrastructure and software for a system that would read meters from a passing city vehicle, then download those readings at City Hall for billing.

New water meters will purchased later after a “ test period” for the electric meter system.

Three bids were received last month for automated electric and water meter systems, with Core and Main submitting the low bid.

The Council asked for bids after hearing each month's manual reading of water and electric meters requires 96 employee hours.  Automated systems are also anticipated to generate fewer errors than transcribing hand written readings, and the city's meters are old and likely inaccurate.