Electric Meter Shop
Vision Metering houses the largest meter shop facilities in the U.S. We have two full-size shops employing more than 150 washers, testers, retrofitters and boxers. Each meter is washed with the Sentry 7000, our exclusive in-house designed meter base washer. Once cleaned, they are fitted with a customer’s choice of AMR module and tested on VESTA boards that are certified daily and traceable to Radian 703A standards. All meters are tracked through the meter shop using PowerTrack Meter Shop Software and packaged in plastic meter crates or re-enforced cardboard boxes. We cycle more than 100,000 meters a month through our meter shops. Our people are well-trained, highly skilled, reliable, organized, and professional. Some of the nation’s largest utilities depend on Vision Metering for their meter shop services.
TIME RUN BOARD
Most meters are time run before entering the meter shop’s retrofitting and testing areas which ensures a properly functioning meter prior to retrofit. It also provides an individual assessment of possible tampering and ensures every meter returned to the customer is fit for service. Our metering professionals visually inspect each meter’s gear mesh and disk for irregularities, deformities or tampering and install a potential link if one is necessary. The time run board determines a meter’s eligibility for retrofitting or testing.
RETROFIT
Installation of an Automatic Meter Reading module is a process called “retrofitting” where a module is installed on meters that have been pulled from field service mid-life and returned with an AMR-fitted system. Through professional partnerships, Vision Metering is able to provide modules manufactured by DCSI, Itron Comverge, Ramar, Hunt Technologies and others. Our sales managers are well-versed in the benefits of each brand and will help you find the best system for your meter reading needs. In the retrofit stage each meter has its name plate removed, its disk cleaned with an alcohol swab and marker applied which will allow the module to read rotations. Each brand of module has its unique installation process. Our retrofit professionals are thoroughly trained on each available module.
CLEANING
We rely on the unique design of our Sentry 7000 Meter Base Washer to ensure tough bristles and clean water do the work of scrubbing each base. The cover and meter are separated after the base is washed. Each cover goes through an industrial dishwasher that uses high pressure, heat and industrial cleaning fluid, leaving the glass or polycarbonate clean and clear.
RECEIVING
Our Receiving Station generates bar codes for each meter in accordance with the customer’s specific requirements. The bar codes are printed on mylar labels and applied directly to the meter’s name plate. The barcode allows the meter to be tracked through every process in the meter shop and provides for easy tracking once shipped to the customer.
TESTING
Meter testing is the most important function in our meter shops today. Our VESTA test boards… and our meter testing professionals… ensure every meter performs within standards set by our customer. Process requirements are published per project and contain information such as acceptable meters, acceptable registers, test adjustments and specific details designated by each Utility. The process publication is available for review and approval of each customer. Test data is collected by Power Track Meter Shop Software throughout each process. Our in-house Software Engineers ensure test data is formatted to a customer’s specifications and has the ability to present test results in whatever format a customer requests.
PROGRAMMING
Once the meter is tested and cleared, the module is programmed in a process which takes anywhere from 5 to 12 seconds. Using a Read One Pro, the programmers prepare the module to perform as designed to work in the field.
BOXING
Meters undergo their final inspection in the Boxing area. Each meter is checked to ensure that every meter is without defects and registers are set to “0”. Meters ready for shipping are packaged per customer specification. Each meter is scanned to flag the database that the meter is leaving the meter shop and is eligible to be added to the data file. Pallets are stacked carefully and stabilized with shrink wrap to ensure safe delivery.