What is It?
Since 2005, Piedmont Natural Gas has converted its gas meters over to an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system, a project we completed in 2007. Once AMR is deployed at your home, Piedmont will no longer need access to your property in order to read your meter, but may need access occasionally for maintenance. As a result, AMR will dramatically cut down on the need to estimate bills or re-read meters. 

There is a possibility that your billing date will change as a result of this project. However, we will make every effort to minimize the impact that AMR will have on billing dates.

Here's How it Works
A small battery powered radio transmitter will be installed on the gas meter at your home or business. The installation itself does not typically require you to be present and can usually be done in 30 minutes or less. Your gas service is not interrupted by the installation and there is no charge for the procedure. Once the transmitter has been installed on your meter, we will be able to accurately and efficiently read your meter from a specially equipped vehicle.

As the vehicle drives by your home or business, the system in the vehicle sends a "wake-up" signal to the the radio transmitter on your meter. The transmitter receives this signal and sends meter reading data back to the system in the vehicle. Once the data is collected, it is then supplied to our billing system where it is matched, via a unique transmitter ID, to your account number.

Why switch to automated meter reading?

There are many advantages to automated meter reading:

• Convenience
  Meter readers will not be in your yard, and you no longer have to make arrangements for special meter reading access for cases such as locked fences. So the problem with missed meter reads is virtually eliminated.  
  
  
• Accuracy
  Electronic reads are more accurate than manual reads, so the affects of human error are reduced. AMR will dramatically reduce the number of estimated meter reads, ensuring your gas bills reflect actual readings. 
  
  
• Reliability
  More than five million customers worldwide now use this automatic meter reading system with excellent results.