A Time Before Automated Meter Reading Technology
Not long ago, residential and business water meters were relatively simple devices. They had numbers or dials (or both), and they could be located in many different places. Each month, the utility company had to know how much water each customer was using and there was only one way to do this. To better understand the benefits of automated meter reading, let’s compare the old fashion method to the modern technology today.
The Analog Meter
Before the digital meter came into place, every resident and business had utilities monitored by a simple meter. Its only function was to measure the amount of water you used. In order to determine this amount, utility company employees had to travel from house to house and business to business, writing down the readings on the meters. Data was kept on a paper chart attached to a clipboard.
Before the invention of automated meter reading, reading meters manually was a time-consuming method. Many water companies routinely sent out “estimated” bills, so they wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of reading meters every month. However, this could present a problem for the resident.
If no one checks your water meter for several months, a small leak somewhere could be costing you a great deal of money. Imagine what kind of bill you would receive if water was steadily leaking underneath your home or somewhere underground on your property. You wouldn’t even know about it until months later when the utility company finally read the meters and sent you an astronomical bill.
Once you receive a staggering water bill, you must fix the leak and then pay for all the additional water used. There is no other recourse. If you are lucky, the water company may or may not give you a break on the bill. This kind of problem can be greatly reduced or even eliminated with automated meter reading technology.
How Does It Work?
Today’s water meters are smart and feature digital technology. They have the ability to gather data about water usage and transmit it to a receiver collecting the data. This allows for much more accurate readings. No one has to perform manual meter readings and there is no longer a need to estimate water bills. Problems can be located and repaired quickly and efficiently.
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