Meter Readers: Who’s Watching Your Assets After Smart Meters?

Meter Readers: Who’s Watching Your Assets After Smart Meters?

By Tommy Combs, Director of Operations, Bermex

Meter readers were once considered the “eyes in the field” for utilities as they visited every customer account every single month to collect meter readings. These utility readers were the unofficial compliance keepers turning in everything from meter tampering to broken meter boxes so utility personnel could be dispatched to complete repairs.

Fast forward to the current day. Meter reading is quickly becoming a thing of the past with emerging technologies such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automated meter reading (AMR) deployment. If a utility is not already in their first iteration of automated or advanced metering, it is highly likely they are doing research and considering their options to deploy these new assets in the near future.

As more and more utilities go through some sort of automation there is one topic of conversation that comes up. Who is going to catch all the safety and liability issues that happen in the field when meter readers are not there every month? Smart meters are a great way for utilities to reduce costs over time, but there is only so much data that comes from the smart meter itself.

Our team at Bermex can help avoid those safety, compliance, and liability issues by providing custom services to check on your most critical assets and make sure your utility is compliant. It’s never too late to implement a proactive plan to ensure safety or compliance!

Here are just a few items we can monitor for you.

Electric

• Meter read validation
• Low-hanging lines
• Meter box issues
• Tampering
• Leaking transformers
• Vegetation growth issues

Gas

• Meter read validation
• Atmospheric corrosion
• Vegetation growth issues
• Missing seals
• Tampering
• ERT read match

Water

• Meter read validation
• Meter lid issues
• Water pit marking
• Tampering
• Pit obstructions
• Leak detection

Implement a proactive plan today by reaching out to our team.