Syracuse, N.Y.-based utility nearly finished switching to remotely-read meters
By Brian Kelly, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y. -- June 30
The "meter man" will go the way of the milkman on north country doorsteps by the end of the summer.
Stephen F. Brady, a spokesman for Niagara Mohawk, said the company has about
150,000 meters left to install, which would complete work begun in October 2002
to replace all of its customers' meters.
He said in the Watertown area, the replacement work is between 90 and 95
percent complete.
Mr. Brady said even though the work is nearing completion, there may be
places where the meter is read the old-fashioned way, with a meter reader going
to the side of or inside a house to get the information.
"The majority of the meters that have been installed are being read
remotely," he said.
He said many of the properties remaining to be switched over to the new
meters are seasonal and the company has waited for the owners to return for the
summer to gain access to the meter.
He said there are also "some holdouts," people who for whatever
reason have not allowed the company access to their meter.
Earlier this year, Niagara Mohawk sent out letters warning holdouts that the
company could obtain a court order to get inside a home if multiple attempts to
set up an appointment to swap the meters failed. The company later backed off
the threat after some customers who belatedly had new meters installed still
received letters.
Mr. Brady said the remaining holdouts will have no effect on other customers
having their meters read remotely.
"We won't hold up the rest of the street for that one house that we
can't get in," he said. "We'll move on to the next house."
He said while the company expects to be "99.9 percent" done with
its installations by midsummer, it recognizes there may some customers it
skipped along the way.
"Even when we think we're done, sure enough there will be a meter that
we missed," he said.
The change-over of gas meters is "a little bit behind in some
areas" the change-over of electrical meters, Mr. Brady said.
For Niagara Mohawk customers, the technology will mean the reader no longer
has to enter the house to obtain a reading and will virtually eliminate
estimated readings, a frequent customer concern.
For the company, it makes the meter readers' job significantly quicker. While
a reader on foot can record about 500 readings in an eight-hour day, a worker in
a truck, traveling at normal traffic speeds, can read up to 15,000 meters in a
day.
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