As we were passing: Meter Reading

Although smart meters are coming, it will be many years before every gas, water and electricity meter can be read remotely. There is a small and declining opportunity for localnet to reduce costs for such services.

This section discusses:

Existing Provision

What

Staff from the gas, water and electricity suppliers or their sub-contractors visit houses to read the meter.

How

These are typically unannounced visits - many of which find no-one in.

Volume and Frequency

The frequency of readings has declined with customers being encouraged to read their own meter or simply being sent estimated bills based on previous usage.

Financial Model

The companies that read the meters have teams of people and fleets of vehicles (typically) dedicated to this task.

Providers

Many of the utility companies still use their own staff (or at least appear to) but others outsource the job by making use of sub-contractors who specialise in this area.

Trends

Intervals between readings are increasing. More firms are using outsourcing. The major trend, however, is towards “smart” meters which are normally readable from a distance - e.g. via the electricity supply network or via wireless connectivity. These will take several years to roll out though.

With Localnet

What

Localnet drivers could easily be trained to read all types of utility meters.

How

A traditional meter reader may visit a given street only once a month or less- and on any given visit, a significant proportion of customers will be out so the efficiency of the task is low.

Volume and Frequency

Although a meter may only need to be read once a quarter, the fact that localnet vans pass by several times a day provides many opportunities within the week or so within which a reading is sought. As the task only takes a minute or two per property, it becomes an ideal “filler” task that can be dropped into a driver's schedule at the last minute. For example, on a particular grocery run in the middle of the day, a round may be given 20 minutes of contingency time - to handle customers who want to place orders via the driver etc. If the contingency is largely unused towards the end of the round, some meter readings can be added to the tasks the driver is asked to do. There should never be a need for a special visit just to read the meter as it can always be done as an adjunct to the delivery or collection of more time sensitive goods or tasks.

Financial Model

Done in this way, the incremental cost of reading meters tends to zero and should certainly be competitive with the dedicated outsourcers who have dedicated staff and vehicles doing the same job.

Providers

By providing this service as part of localnet rather than having a separate company (or several) coming to read the meter(s) the safety and security of the residents is improved. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to imposters posing as meter readers just to gain access to their property. As they will know their localnet team personally, they will feel, and be, much more secure letting their trusted delivery staff into their house.

Evolution

This service is likely to die out over the next decade or so as the meters are replaced with more intelligent devices. However, the very presence of a low cost meter reading service may change the business case for replacing existing meters enough that the migration is slower than currently anticipated.

 

Comparison

The table below assesses the impact of localnet on this service on a scale of -5 to +5 (details here)

  Existing services As part of localnet Score
Scope
Frequency
Security
Convenience
Cost
Quality
Carbon Footprint
Time
Resources Used
Reuse & Recycling
Landfill Waste
Other Differentiators

Services