I’m originally from upstate New York, where water meters are located in basements or cellars to keep them from freezing. The small town where I grew up operated a water system and, with limited staff, frequently estimated meter readings. My mother was aware of this and, after several billing periods without her meter being read, was convinced they were overestimating her usage. So, she called and made arrangements for the meter reader to come and read her meter. Much to her chagrin, they had been underestimating her reading all those months and her next water bill was much higher than the bills she thought were already excessive!
An inquiry from a colleague
Last year, I had a professional colleague contact me with the following questions:
“Do you by chance know if there is an industry standard for estimated meter reads? I know you would want this number to be as low as possible but is there an industry target that would indicate a utility’s meter reading capabilities?”
My response was:
“I’m not aware of any industry standard for estimated meter readings. Off the top of my head, I would think anything greater than about 2% would be excessive unless there were extenuating circumstances (such as snow in an area like ours in North Carolina where utilities aren’t prepared to read in that kind of weather).”
This is where you get to help…
Previous posts have addressed meter reading best practices and alternating actual readings and estimates as a way of reducing costs, but none have addressed routine estimates.
In order to better answer my colleague’s question, I’ve put together a short survey asking how your utility handles estimated meter readings. The results of the survey will be published in the next post.
