PLAN No. 1206. METER DEPARTMENT
Installation, removal, testing, and repair of the meters which measure consumed electrical energy is the work of the meter department. After a meter has been installed in a building it should be tested periodically to insure its continued accuracy. These periodical tests are made on the customer’s premises. If the instrument is shown to be inaccurate it is replaced by one which is accurate, and is taken to the repair shop for overhauling. Thus the meter department does some of its work outside and some in the shop. In the larger companies the men who test the meters in the customer’s buildings ordinarily do nothing else. A different group of men repair and test the meters in the shop. With the smaller companies the same men or man may have to do both the inside and outside work.
The outside meter tester should be familiar with wiring practice, understand the connections necessary in installing meters and how to test them. A meter tester frequently has a helper who can start at this work with very little electrical knowledge or experience. This is primarily outdoor work, and is suitable for a returned soldier whose disabilities require that he have considerable open-air exercise. The hours are eight or nine a day. The wages of a helper vary from $50 to $76 and of a tester from $70 to $125 per month.
In the meter-repair shop the returned meters are dismantled, cleaned, repaired, readjusted, and retested. This work is in reality a branch of electrical instrument repairing and manufacturing. It requires dexterous workmanship and accurate handling. Men in the meter-repair department are usually those who have been outside meter testers. They understand, in addition to installation and testing, something of meter construction and manufacture. Wages for an inside meter tester range from $80 to $150. The position of meter department foreman or superintendent, for which a competent meter man may after a number of years of experience qualify, pays from $125 to $180 monthly. In meter departments of large companies there is some bench work which can be done by a man who has the use of his hands and eyes, even though he be otherwise materially disabled. Soldiers who have had previous electrical experience or who like to manipulate fine instruments and tools should be able to handle effectively some of this work.