Thinking of going for a meter reading job.

howlsatthemoon

Hi folks looking for some advice.

As the title says I am thinking of applying for a meter reading job with SSE, and was just wondering if any forum members have had any experience or are currently employed as meter readers. If so could you please give me some pro's and con's of the job. I live in a fairly rural area and have been told that I may have to travel to other towns, some over 80 miles away, to read meters. Have also been told that I could be trained up to install meters as well.

Many thanks.

Southend1

Is a company vehicle provided?

closed

smart meters = no job

howlsatthemoon

Southend1 - Yes, company vehicle is supplied.

closed - I asked the same question and was told that in my area smart meters will not be introduced for at least two years and even then they will still need meter readers, plus I would have the opportunity to be trained to install smart meters.

Thanks for the replies.

Southend1

Sounds ok then. Just check if it's hourly paid and if travel from depot/base is paid or not. If its piecework/ salaried with targets I would avoid as likely to involve ridiculous working hours

howlsatthemoon

Southend1 wrote: »

If its piecework/ salaried with targets I would avoid as likely to involve ridiculous working hours

I think it is salaried with targets with an incentive bonus. Was told it would be 37hrs per week, worked between 8.00am and 8.00pm with the occasional Saturday morning. How I work the 37hrs would be up to myself.

The problem I have is some/a lot of the readings will be from outlying villages/farms so some of my 37hrs would be travelling time. This is why I am asking if anyone has had previous experience of this type of job and are the bonuses achievable?

Southend1

howlsatthemoon wrote: »

I think it is salaried with targets with an incentive bonus. Was told it would be 37hrs per week, worked between 8.00am and 8.00pm with the occasional Saturday morning. How I work the 37hrs would be up to myself.

The problem I have is some/a lot of the readings will be from outlying villages/farms so some of my 37hrs would be travelling time. This is why I am asking if anyone has had previous experience of this type of job and are the bonuses achievable?

Hopefully someone who knows will be along to help but I'm guessing you shouldn't count on receiving the incentive payment. If your happy with the salary for 37 hours then go for it. Though you may find staff are under pressure to work more than 37 hours to try to meet targets.

scooby088

Bloke who I recently worked with did meter reading and he said that he was self employed and had to use his own car. I heard though that they start you on salary and then move you towards being a franchisee no sure if this is true or not.

kevin1802

I did this job for 2 years for a well known company.I worked in,or was supposed to work in my own area of south west london.In my experience the bonuses even in london are completly unachievable.When i first started your target was 800 reads per week above that you would be paid 40p per read.They later changed it to 600 reads and above that you would get 15p per read.The only time i ever earned any bonus was when i was on holiday & came back to work on a thursday so automatically i got the 140 a day(800)a week and was given some flats where all the meters were in cupboards so very easy to get a lot of reads.Unless i am wrong you will NOT be paid your travelling time from your home/base to you first/last address's.
Also your were expected to work split-shifts 8am-11.30am & 4pm-8pm so you might be traveling 3 hours a day just to get to your area and back and that's in london!
I packed it in because they were messing me about with holidays (no time off over xmass) even though i had worked the 2 prevoius ones+the permanent staff (some of them) never worked at xmass.
The job is okay if you don't have a manager who is on your back all the time and you don't mind working split-shifts but don't expect to earn any extra money.

howlsatthemoon

Thanks for that kevin1802, was there any penalties for not meeting your targets?

kevin1802

There was no penalties you just did'nt earn an extra money.In my opinion the chance of earning any bonus was practically nil unless your prepared to work more than 37 hrs a week,even then depending on the area you'd have no chance.That is in SW London were house are closer together-probably less chance in a rural area.