Getting a brand new read

Lynnette Cervone, project manager for Southwest Gas Corp., vividly remembers an unrestrained dog that bit her when she was a meter reader.

Unpleasant encounters with dogs are part of the job description for meter readers, but the number of incidents are expected to decline with a new electronic system being installed by the local gas distribution company.

Southwest Gas increasingly is attaching encoder receiver transmitters to gas meters. The devices send wireless signals that meter readers can pick up with portable devices as they walk or drive by a house at speeds up to 15 to 20 mph.

The gas company has installed the electronic devices at 200,000 new homes. In July, Southwest Gas started retrofitting existing homes. By October 2008, the company expects to have electronic devices at 300,000 existing houses, said Cervone, the project's manager.

Nevada Power is conducting a test program using similar technology for 12,000 customers, spokesman Adam Grant said.

At least one valley resident is happy about the program.

"I would like it. It would make it a lot easier for everybody," said retiree Robert Rice, who lives near Boulevard Mall.

When the electric meter reader comes to see the meter in the backyard, Rice usually puts his three dogs in the house. The male, a German pinscher named Trouble, particularly likes to bark at meter readers.

Barking dogs are just one reason to switch to wireless meter reading, according to Southwest Gas.

Customers are expected to like the system because it will reduce billing errors. While it is possible to set the electronic equipment incorrectly, the system is nearly 100 percent accurate, Cervone said.

Southwest Gas promises that the radio frequency used by meter readers will not affect any electronic devices in homes, such as automatic garage door openers. And residents with meters in their backyards no longer will need to tie up their dogs just because a meter reader is coming by.

Southwest Gas says the system will require fewer workers. But no layoffs will result, the company said, because Southwest Gas will reassign workers who are no longer needed for meter reading.

The gas company wouldn't disclose the cost of the system, which is produced by Itron near Spokane, Wash.