Dan Charters, Bill Rogers, and Ken Hill are familiar faces to Klickitat PUD customers – and their pets. Once each month, city residences and businesses are visited by one of these customer service field representatives, more commonly known as meter readers.

Getting access to the meters can sometimes be a challenge, dogs being notoriously single-minded when it comes to protecting their property.

Dan, Bill, and Ken, have learned to apply meter reader tricks of the trade when meeting up with dogs along their routes. The men look for signs – like chew toys in the front yard or trails along fence lines. Both carry dog biscuits to encourage a friendly reception. Learning Fido’s name is always a must, they say.

“Dogs remember you,” says Dan, “so make it a positive experience.”

“Dogs recognize the sound of my truck and come out to meet me,” says Bill.

“One day my truck was in for service and I used another vehicle. I drove down an alley and none of the dogs that lived along there came out.”

In Bill’s experience, “most dogs are friendly. You can read them after awhile. They have body language just like people,” he says.

Then there are the occasional not-so-friendly dogs. Dan recalls giving a dog a biscuit, which it ate and then promptly bit him on the knuckle for a thank you.

meter in a field behind Wishram Heights. He lifted the lid of the meter box and, just before reaching in the deep and dark cavity, spotted the snake. It’s an experience, he says, he won’t soon forget.

Besides dogs and rattlesnakes, the men have first-hand acquaintances with llamas, ostriches, buffalo, geese, and mink – animals they’re likely to meet on their daily routes. Ken enjoys seeing elk in winter when making his rounds in the Glenwood area.

Bill has worked for KPUD since 1998. His service area is located east of the Klickitat River. Dan, a KPUD employee since 1990, works the west county area, plus Lyle, Murdock, and Dallesport.

Bill and Dan spend 60 to 70 percent of their on-the-job time reading electric and water meters in the county’s cities and towns. The water meters are located in KPUD-operated water systems in the towns of Klickitat, Lyle, Glenwood, Roosevelt, and Wishram, and in the Ponderosa Park and Rimrock developments. The men are always on the look-out for leaks in the water systems, which can be sometimes be detected by unusually high meter readings.

Basic service work, such as turning on and shutting off services, bill collecting, and locating underground power lines, is also a part of Bill and Dan’s job.

Ken, on board since 1999, works part-time and is responsible for reading meters of KPUD’s electric rural customers to verify readings. He checks these meters once a year. He says by year’s end he will have read every rural meter in the county. Residents in these areas, usually farmers or ranchers, read their own meters and include the figure with their monthly KPUD bill. About 40 percent of KPUD customers are asked to read their own meters to keep costs down.

If you ask Ken what’s the best thing about his job, he replies “you get a lot of exercise!” Then, with a laugh, he adds “and if you ask me what the worst part is, I’ll say ‘you get a lot of exercise!’”

Job training is provided yearly. The Tri-Cities was the site of the most recent school where a course in electrical systems for non-engineers was taught. These schools are attended by employees of many northwest utilities. Bill and Dan also attend monthly safety meetings at the KPUD facility, and both are well-trained in first-aid procedures.

The meter readers log 2,000 or more miles per month on their KPUD vehicles. Bill’s drives a red ’98 Ford Ranger with 150,000 miles on the odometer. Dan drives a newer pick-up truck, a 2004 Ford F150. His last vehicle had 160,000 miles on it which Ken now drives.

Meter reading, like many jobs, has added state-of-the-art electronic equipment to facilitate work procedures. The men now use hand-held meter reading devices that hold customer account information which can be displayed when punching in a meter number. The meter reader often follows the same route each month and the device is programmed for this route, eliminating the need to punch in the meter number each time.

Note-taking is another feature of these hand-helds, as they are called. If, for example, a meter shows an unusually high reading and the meter reader notices a new swimming pool in the back yard, he will note that. Meter readings and notes recorded in the devices are downloaded at the billing departments in Goldendale and White Salmon.

Before hand-helds, meter books were used where readings were manually written in. The potential for error has decreased significantly since KPUD switched to the hand-held devices seven years ago. Eventually, some remote and inaccessible meters will be replaced with meters equipped with a radio frequency transmitter that can be picked up by the hand-held device.

Off-work, Dan, Ken, and Bill continue to enjoy the out-of-doors. Dan takes his four-wheeler into the woods to enjoy the solitude. At home, he is currently working on a room addition. Bill is an active member of the Klickitat County Search and Rescue Team. Ken spends his time farming.