How to

How to replace a meter without losing usage history

A meter stops registering, or it's simply worn out, and the field tech swaps it for a new one that starts near zero. If your software keys usage to the meter, that customer's history ends at the old serial number and starts over at the new one, and the swap month gets billed on a guess. In BasicBMS you record the swap as a Change Out. The old meter's last read closes its final stretch of usage, the new meter starts from its own dial, and the service point's Reading History runs straight through both.

Before you start

  • The tech's numbers: the outgoing meter's dial reading at removal, the new meter's reading at install (often 0), and the date of the swap.
  • The new meter's serial number. It can't match another meter in service at your company. Reusing the outgoing meter's serial is fine.
  • The service point has a meter In Service. Change Out is greyed out until it does; the first meter goes in with Add Meter.
  • Your login can administer meters. Without that, neither button appears.

Steps

  1. Open Metering and open the service point.

  2. Under Meters, click Change Out. The panel is titled Change Out Meter and names the meter coming out: "Recording a closing read on serial keeps the usage series continuous across both devices."

  3. Enter the outgoing meter's Final Reading and set Changed On to the day of the swap. Comment: is optional; leave it blank and the history records "Meter change-out: serial removed."

  4. Under Replacement Meter, enter the Serial Number and whatever else you have for the new device: Manufacturer, Model, Size, Multiplier, Dial Count. Leave Unit of Measure blank to carry over the old meter's unit.

  5. Set Installed On to the swap date and enter the new meter's Initial Reading.

  6. Click Record Change Out. The app confirms "Meter serial replaced; reading history preserved."

  7. Check the result. Under Meters, the old meter shows Removed with its date and the new one shows In Service. Reading History has a new read on the old meter, Read Type Change-Out, covering the stretch since its last regular read. Next cycle's reads come from the new meter, in the same list.

What the closing read records. The change-out read's Cons is the final reading minus the old meter's last read, times its Multiplier. That is the water that went through the old meter since it was last read. It stays on the service point with everything else, so it isn't lost in the swap.

What posts behind it

Nothing. A change-out is a usage record, not a money event: no journal entry is written when you save it. The closing read's usage is billed like any other read, at the service point's rate.

When it won’t let you

A final reading on the outgoing meter is required. Final Reading is blank. The closing read is the whole point of a change-out.

Serial number is required. The replacement meter has no Serial Number.

Meter serial 'M-20417' is already in service for this company. Another meter in service somewhere in your company carries that serial. Check for a typo, or record the change-out on the other service point first.

That meter has already been removed. Someone recorded this change-out already. Refresh the service point and check Meters.

This meter has reading history and cannot be deleted. Record a change-out instead. You clicked the delete icon on a meter that has reads. Its reads are the billing record, so it stays, and Change Out is how it leaves service.

Not refused, but flagged. If the Final Reading is lower than the old meter's last read (a misread, or a dial that rolled over), the change-out still saves. The closing read is marked Exception with the reason Rollback and held for review on the Read Exceptions screen, instead of quietly counting as zero.

What this doesn't do

It doesn't schedule the swap or send anyone out; it records a swap that has happened. It doesn't change the customer, the Billing Method: or the Rate Item: on the service point, which stay as they were. And it doesn't bill anything by itself. The closing read waits to be billed like every other read.

Related

Stuck on this one? Call (509) 955-0770 and we'll walk through it with you.

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