Can I ask for details from Councils who undertake water meter reading:
How many reads per year?
Manual or electronic meters?
If manual reads, undertaken by Council staff or contractor.
Lachlan Shire currently undertakes 4 reads per year, manual reads by Council casuals – the reads are taking about 4 weeks, then bill is due 4 weeks later and reminder 2 weeks later – then it starts all over again.
Shoalhaven City Council reads meters 4 times a year. We have manual meters and our contractors read routes on a weekly basis, consisting of 3000 – 5000 properties. Invoicing is each following week. Some of our commercial properties are read and invoiced monthly. We perform 22,000 reads a year, excluding final meter reads during the change of ownership process.
The majority of Lithgow water meters are automated reads. Still a few meters that require manual reads which are done by Council staff.
Taking 3 to 4 weeks to get manual reads done as meters are spread across Council area. We are looking at tweaking process to improve reading times.
Readings are done 4 times per year with bills due approximately 30 days after date of issue. Use Forms Express for printing of water/sewerage usage accounts.
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