We read our gas and electric meters using the following methods:
The vast majority of our meters contain a transmitting device that sends out a signal containing the meter read. The meter read, sent by radio frequency, is collected by a device located on our company vehicles. Meter reads are collected by simply driving in the vicinity of the meter. The meter reads are then downloaded to our billing system.
Primarily for electric meters where an optical probe is placed on a port on the face of a meter and data is transmitted from the port to a handheld electronic device. The data is later downloaded from the handheld device, to our billing system.
A small number of meters are still read manually by a meter reader who enters the read into a handheld device for later downloading to our billing system.
For larger gas and electric customers meter data is acquired by phone modem or Internet Protocol (IP) addressable meters from the Company’s Load Data Services Department.
In all cases the meter needs to be accessible for maintenance purposes.
Please note that your next scheduled meter reading date appears on your service bill.