ESB Meter reader

deirdre11

I just wanted advice here, today I was home with the flu and the ESB meter reader came to our gate. At the time I didn't know who it was as the gate is 100 feet away from the door and it is closed and the small side gate is closed and locked. I live in the countryside and I don't want unidentified people just driving up to the door.
This person beeped the horn for several seconds and looked over the gate and tried to come in the small gate as well. At the time I found it quite scary as I didn't know who it was. Instead of just putting an estimate in the letterbox he spent five minutes beeping the horn 2 more times and looking up at the house.

We submit our reading every 2 weeks online and we pay by DD.

I found this aggressive and upsetting today and totally unnecessary?

Are meter readers entitled to do this??

salmocab

<SNIP>

Well they do have to read your meter sometimes regardless of you supplying info, he beeped his horn, looked over your gate and tried your wicket gate hardly aggressive I would think

Riesen_Meal

<SNIP>

Yes,

All meter readers are Garda vetted and have a permit with access to properties countrywide to read the meter, I was one for 2 years myself...

Aggressive and upsetting?

This attitude baffles me, the poor chap was only trying to do his job, they all carry identification at all times.

I think you need to find better things to be worrying about than someone reading your meter trying to do you a favour...

Teyla Emmagan

Ours is a bit odd too, I can see where you are coming from. He makes a rotten racket leaning on the door bell and banging on the knocker. You can hear him making his way up the street from the banging on front doors. I think he might be a bit special though. If you don't want your guy coming to your house I am sure you can just ring and say so.

salmocab

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Ours is a bit odd too, I can see where you are coming from. He makes a rotten racket leaning on the door bell and banging on the knocker. You can hear him making his way up the street from the banging on front doors. I think he might be a bit special though. If you don't want your guy coming to your house I am sure you can just ring and say so.

They do need to read the meter you can’t just ring and say don’t read my meter anymore

irishgrover

salmocab wrote: »

They do need to read the meter you can’t just ring and say don’t read my meter anymore

presumably not, because you could just submit fake readings for years and underpay accordingly

Riesen_Meal

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Ours is a bit odd too, I can see where you are coming from. He makes a rotten racket leaning on the door bell and banging on the knocker. You can hear him making his way up the street from the banging on front doors. I think he might be a bit special though. If you don't want your guy coming to your house I am sure you can just ring and say so.

They are assigned routes and tend to stick to said route's so people are familiar with their faces and being around the area, the toughest part of that job is being put in a new area where no one knows you!

Problem being is that, say you miss him, and you see him the next day in the area, chances are he will be on a different route and can not read your meter then, it's a bit of a bad system but that's unfortunately the way it is until they do the GPS ones in a few years down the line....

It will take years for the GPS yokes to come in, sure half the meters in rural areas can't even be accessed or located...

Spanish Eyes

I haven't had my meter read for a few years now. I ring in my readings. The meter is inside the house, so invariably they will miss me being in.

This has been the pattern for a number of years. Eventually they will arrange for a reading to be taken. I get the feeling that if the meter man/woman's reading is broadly in keeping with your phoned in readings, they will leave you alone for ages.

Well that has been my experience anyway.

MrMusician18

salmocab wrote: »

They do need to read the meter you can’t just ring and say don’t read my meter anymore

Of course he or she can stop the meter reader calling around. Just go off grid, simple.

OP, do you not think you were just being a little bit precious?

I don't envy any employee that deals with the general public tbh

Simple_Simone

In this day and age, I consider it completely unacceptable that an Electric Ireland meter reader wouldn't have known, by ESP or some-such leading edge technology that poor Deirdre was a bit under the weather today.

I suggest sending a strongly-worded letter to someone to complain about this shocking incident.

salmocab

Simple_Simone wrote: »

In this day and age, I consider it completely unacceptable that an Electric Ireland meter reader wouldn't have known, by ESP or some-such leading edge technology that poor Deirdre was a bit under the weather today.

I suggest sending a strongly-worded letter to someone to complain about this shocking incident.

They should have someone go around knocking on peoples doors to let them know someone will be knocking on their door in a while

Teyla Emmagan

salmocab wrote:

They do need to read the meter you can’t just ring and say don’t read my meter anymore

That's not what I was suggesting. The OP is clearly perfectly happy to submit their meter readings.

salmocab

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

That's not what I was suggesting. The OP is clearly perfectly happy to submit their meter readings.

Yes but the meter needs to be read by the ESB you can’t indefinitely tell them the readings

Riesen_Meal

salmocab wrote: »

Yes but the meter needs to be read by the ESB you can’t indefinitely tell them the readings

I think if you have missed the reader over 2 years in a row ESB will arrange a time for someone to read it when you are actually there just so they can get a read of it...

Some people have been getting ripped off for ages by ESB and it's only copped when the meter is officially read by them....

Then they want their meters read all of a sudden...

irishgrover

BTW: Public Service Announcement
After seeing this thread I went down and took a meter reading. My meter is also behind a gate and difficult to get to.
The latest estimate is off by about 4000kW

---

**** **** **** **** and sh!te

So regardless, it's in everyones interest to either get it read or do it yourself regularly..

BTW: End of Public Service Announcement

salmocab

irishgrover wrote: »

BTW: Public Service Announcement
After seeing this thread I went down and took a meter reading. My meter is also behind a gate and difficult to get to.
The latest estimate is off by about 4000kW

---

**** **** **** **** and sh!te

So regardless, it's in everyones interest to either get it read or do it yourself regularly..

BTW: End of Public Service Announcement

You should check your bills every month to see if they are read or estimated, estimates are usually okay but you wouldn’t want too many building up as it can store up a pain.

Lenny

Fieldog wrote: »

I think if you have missed the reader over 2 years in a row ESB will arrange a time for someone to read it when you are actually there just so they can get a read of it...

Some people have been getting ripped off for ages by ESB and it's only copped when the meter is officially read by them....

Then they want their meters read all of a sudden...

I haven't had my meter read in 7 years....

blackbox

Why on Earth would you lock the gate? Fair enough to close it to keep out stray animals, but locking it is OTT.

If you lock it you definitely should have an intercom.

Titzon Toast

Yep, time to fit an intercom OP.

dudara

OmegaGene wrote: »

This is surely a wind up

If you have a problem with a post, please Report it. There’s no need for pointless comments on thread.

dudara

shane b

According the esb website the readers call 4 times a year to ensure the meter is read.
He may have seen evidence of someone at home and was trying to get your attention. He probably thought great there's someone here so I'll get the reading this time. I wouldn't consider it aggressive.
I've had something similiar happen with couriers as I live in the country with electric gates.

listermint

I live in the country he comes by every few months . He walked by me once when I was talking to some workmen in the garden . Bit of an oul weirdo never says hello but I knew who he was by his car.

Leave him at it. Beep beep and he's gone. Mines a new meter box

Tippex

Dear god almighty if this is what you find aggressive and upsets you I would recommend building a moat around your house and declaring yourself an independent state so that you have to have no interaction with the outside world.

uck51js9zml2yt

We had just moved in and my wife phoned me about this strange van parked in our driveway.

A few days later we got our bill. It was the meter reader. My wife now says hello to her.
Box is outside.

dudara

OmegaGene wrote: »

It’s not meant as a pointless post, the op has an issue with a vetted official calling to the house to take a meter reading ?? This is common practice and part of the terms of contract with the electricity supplier.
This all sounds very dramatic for a non event imo, what did the person do wrong ??

“This person beeped the horn for several seconds and looked over the gate and tried to come in the small gate as well. At the time I found it scary as I didn't know who it was. Instead of just putting an estimate in the letterbox he spent five minutes beeping the horn 2 more times and looking up at the house”

Why didn’t you say this first time out? It’s a better post, rather than your previous one which was just a throw away. All I’m asking for here is helpful constructive posts, not one-liners.

dudara

my3cents

Believe it or not in the UK they send out letters about a week in advance if the meter hasn't been read for 6 months stating when the electric meter reader will call and at what approximate time. You can phone up and change the date but they really do make the effort to read the meters at least twice a year.

Rubberchikken

what ever happened to going out and seeing wgat the person wanted?
just because you live in the countryside or are behind a gate 100 ft from the road doesnt mean every person that calls will be a threat.

our meter is in our kitchen. the man who does the resding and im guessing its the same man each time, cant be certain though, is invited in with no issue. *sigh*

dudara

OmegaGene wrote: »

Because I genuinely thought it must be a wind up considering it’s the op’s third post

If you think it’s a wind up, then report it and let the mods look at it. No need for comments about it being a wind up that add nothing to the conversation.

Degag

Fieldog wrote: »

the toughest part of that job is being put in a new area where no one knows you!

Would take that over dogs tbh... even though i like dogs.

Worked in the industry before and have seen some horror stories of people whose meters weren't read in year. People who owed thousands and thousands.

physioman

Do they get paid per meter read? How much do they get?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

physioman wrote: »

Do they get paid per meter read? How much do they get?

They are (outside of parts of Dublin) contractors who are paid per meter. It varies between urban and rural but is just cents per meter.

zell12

salmocab wrote: »

They should have someone go around knocking on peoples doors to let them know someone will be knocking on their door in a while

No. no. This is a matter for Joe Duffy

splinter65

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

That's not what I was suggesting. The OP is clearly perfectly happy to submit their meter readings.

But unless they check once in a while, how would they know the customer is telling the truth?