Meter Read Types

The following meter read types are available:

Read Type	Description
Billing Force	Meter reads with this value are entered by a billing administrator who wants to force billing to bill a customer for a given amount of consumption.
Verified	A meter reader using a handheld device records meter reads with this value. The handheld device deems a read as “verified” if the meter reader typed the same dial reading in twice. Some organizations have their handhelds programmed to require the double entry of dial readings when the entered value is outside normative values (i.e., the resultant consumption fails high / low checks).
Regular	A meter reader using a handheld device records meter reads with this value. See the description for "verified" above for the difference between a "regular" and a "verified" reading.
Customer Read	A customer provides meter reads with this value.
System Prorate	Meter reads with this value are created by the system automatically when prorating normal cycle-based reads for use with an off-cycle start service or stop service.
Office Estimate	Meter reads with this value are informed guesses of consumption. These would be used when there was no real reading (i.e., a regular or verified reading), and the system was not allowed to estimate consumption (for whatever reason). This value is rarely used.
Service Provider Estimate	Meter reads with this value are estimates of consumption made by a 3rd party service provider, such as an MDMA, the distribution company, or an energy supply company.
System Estimate	The billing process creates meter reads with this value when a reading cannot be found and the service agreement allows estimation.
No Read	Meter reads with this value are entered to indicate that a read was purposefully not performed (for whatever reason - mad dog, nasty rose bush, deep snow, etc.). A read with this value is not a read at all; it's just an audit trail.