Meter reading problems run deep

Bill estimations caused by staffing shortages isn't the only issue facing Florida Power. Some complain of a hostile environment, slacking workers.

[Times photo: Bill Serne] Kara King uses binoculars to read a meter she can't get close enough to because of a security fence. On this day, King has 409 meters to read. She'll have to work two hours of overtime to get the job done.

By STEVE HUETTEL

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 4, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Kara King strides down a dirt alley just off Central Avenue at a forced-march pace, her meter-reading computer in hand and a spray can of HALT! dog repellent clipped to her navy blue shorts.

It's just before 8 a.m., and she has to punch in readings from 409 Florida Power meters on homes and businesses before her day is done. These accounts are "critical," meaning the meters must be read by late afternoon or Florida Power will simply estimate the customers' bills.

To get the job done, King will work two hours of overtime, walk miles in searing heat and face obstacles from locked gates to snarling dogs.

"This isn't like sitting in front of a computer with the air conditioning on," said King, a 39-year-old former bank teller and secretary.

King has one of those outdoor jobs, like pouring asphalt and mowing lawns, that require fierce dedication and an iron constitution during a Florida summer.

This summer has been a particularly tough one for Florida Power's meter readers and the customers who depend on them for accurate bills.

About 20,500 customers in St. Petersburg got estimated bills for June because the utility didn't have enough people to read all the meters. But the estimates were often low, so customers got hit with huge bills the next month after Florida Power read their meters and made up the difference.

The seesawing bills were an embarrassment for officials at Progress Energy, the new North Carolina owners of Florida Power, who have pledged to achieve top-notch customer service.

Florida Power initially explained that seven of the 19 meter readers in St. Petersburg took an early retirement offer in May, and everything was fixed once it hired replacements.

But the problems run deeper. Current and former meter readers say that for years some workers went home with a full day's pay after working a four- or five-hour shift. Florida Power has investigated workers for making up readings, firing one. And some St. Petersburg meter readers have described a workplace that's hostile to women and minorities.

While the problems were acute in St. Petersburg, morale and performance also have fallen short elsewhere in the utility's West Central Florida service area, which stretches east to Orlando and as far north as Tallahassee.

Florida Power President William Habermeyer said he has heard meter readers complain about co-workers who are slackers, and he has told supervisors those days are over.

"I'm convinced our management understands there will be no tolerance for poor performance," said Habermeyer, who was transferred from North Carolina to run Florida Power in December, soon after the utility's ownership changed. "If we have people not performing in the field -- and in management -- we're going to change those people."

Tough routes

This should have been a day at the beach for Kara King.

Her usual route would have taken her through Tierra Verde's condo complexes and the lush lawns of pricey waterfront homes. Instead, King has been assigned to Palmetto Park for the day to show a reporter the job's challenges.

It's a "dirty route," King says. That's not meant as a slur against the neighborhood or a complaint about the empty beer bottles and junked cars littering some of the lots west of Tropicana Field.

King is using meter reader jargon for the 6-foot-tall wooden fences, locked gates and unrestrained dogs that keep her from walking up to a meter and punching the reading into her hand-held computer in just a few seconds.

Florida Power doesn't want readers climbing over locked fences. It's too easy to get hurt, get stuck in a yard or have the homeowner misinterpret your intentions, King says. So she peers over the fence or through a gap with binoculars.

If her view is blocked or the meter is too far away, King logs in the meter as "inaccessible" and a code classifying the reason (78 for a fence, 79 for a dog). She hangs a tag on the front door listing why the meter wasn't read.

After King enters a meter reading, the next address on the route pops up on the screen along with the resident's name and the meter number. The words "dog" or "bad dog" appear if a previous reader encountered a canine.

King cautiously strides into a backyard where a German shepherd tied to a fence snarls from 25 yards away. King logs the reading and retreats, looking over her shoulder the whole time.

"You always look behind you," she says.

Later, Cindy Rosa stops her car to complain that King read her meter from a neighbor's backyard, not close enough to get a good look.

Rosa's black chow, Nikko, is penned in the narrow side yard with pieces of plastic grating at each end. King wasn't convinced Nikko couldn't get out.

When it's time to move her truck a few blocks, King sips from a half gallon of water in the front seat to cool off. But drinking too much creates another problem, particularly if you're on an unfamiliar route and don't know where to find a public restroom.

In her second year as a meter reader, King earns $15.36 an hour, nearly $32,000 a year. Some readers say it's possible to earn more than $50,000 a year with overtime. And there's plenty of overtime when the St. Petersburg crew is short-handed.

"It seems like we're always behind in the summertime," King says.

Former meter readers say part of the problem has been workers who didn't pull their weight.

Scott Jones, who was a reader for nearly three years, said some of his colleagues in St. Petersburg finished their assigned routes in four or five hours, went home and got paid for a full eight-hour shift instead of going back for more work.

"There are a lot of easy routes," says Jones. "The attitude these guys have is that when they're done with their route, they're done with their work. Then, they get lost for the rest of the day."

That created friction on the job.

"If there's one slacker, everybody feels it and you have animosity among the crew," says former reader Robert Hall. "The worst thing is Florida Power didn't do anything about it." He said the company did not want to risk tangling with the meter readers' union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Union representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Jones said he saw and heard about things he still has trouble believing. Readers who fabricated readings without looking at a meter, a practice known as "curbing." Employees who never left the sidewalk but punched code numbers into their hand-held computers indicating a fence or dog kept them from reading the meter.

"A lot goes on there that people don't realize," says Jones.

A sensitive issue

The rash of unread meters is a sensitive issue for Progress Energy, which insists that service for its 1.4-million new Florida customers will be just as good as for the 1.3-million served by its Carolina Power & Light utility in North Carolina and South Carolina.

But Carolina customers are much less likely than Floridians to get estimated bills -- and the seesawing results that may follow. While an average of about five out of 1,000 Florida Power bills have been estimated this year (nine out of 1,000 in St. Petersburg), CP&L issued only 0.6 estimated bills per 1,000.

The percentages are small. But they mean that this year an average of 7,000 customers a month throughout Florida Power's service area got a bill that wasn't based on an actual meter reading.

Florida Power's smaller neighbor, Tampa Electric Co., has an even worse batting average. The utility estimated an average of 6,252 monthly bills this year -- about one in every 100, according to spokesman Ross Bannister. The vast majority are issued when readers encounter locked gates or dangerous dogs, he said.

Still, Florida Power officials acknowledge they face special challenges to improve the performance and morale of their meter readers.

A company survey conducted in March showed meter readers were less likely than other groups of employees to think their co-workers were performing well or that managers cared. Fifty-eight percent disagreed with the statement: Poor employee performance is not tolerated at my company.

The problems were greatest in St. Petersburg, according to current and former meter readers. With fractious relations between employees and urban routes where readers more frequently encounter bad dogs and crime, they say Florida Power had trouble keeping workers.

"They were always shorthanded, always understaffed," says Jones, the former reader. "They didn't want to hire anyone, and no one wanted to transfer to St. Petersburg."

Florida Power now says only three St. Petersburg readers, not seven, took the early retirement deal. Four others transferred to open jobs elsewhere.

"There were also injuries and illnesses," said Keith Poston, a Progress Energy spokesman, "and when you have morale issues, you have more people calling in sick."

Now, St. Petersburg is up to its full contingent of 19 readers, plus six temporary workers, Poston said.

In July, the number of estimated bills in the city fell to 7,820, he said. The company expects that will drop another 20 percent when August ends, with fewer than 200 meters going unread simply because the company didn't get to them.

"We're still playing catch-up," Poston said. "It will take a little time to get back to where we were (earlier this year). It will take longer to get to where we want to be."

But even as Florida Power's new owners work to improve morale, they have added to the meter readers' fear about the future.

In the Carolinas, Progress Energy hires another company to provide meter readers rather than using its own employees. The company says it has no plan to replace Florida Power's 194 meter readers.

That's small consolation because the company acknowledges it may eventually replace current meters with high-tech ones that can be monitored from a central office, eliminating the need for readers.

Florida Power also has a way to go to win back the trust of customers like Becky Jamin of St. Petersburg.

She said she received estimated bills from the electric company from March through early May, ranging from $98 to $148, even though her fence was never locked. Jamin called every month demanding an actual reading. Florida Power sent a letter stating her meter was inaccessible.

"It was just a lie," she says. "I have a 125-pound German shepherd who's always inside. There aren't even any signs that say, "Bad Dog.' "

Florida Power finally read her meter in late May -- and sent a bill for an extra $375 for the three months.

-- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright