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Harriman Utility Board Meter Policy

1. Utility meters are the property of Harriman Utility Board. As such, and by Tennessee State law, the Utility Board must have access to the meters at all times. It shall be the responsibility of the customer to provide a ready access to the meter location clear of any obstruction:
   

   a. Meters shall not be covered with trash, brush, building materials, any thing that restricts the utility worker’s access, or shrubbery planted in such fashion as to restrict direct access by utility workers.
   

   b. No existing meter shall be enclosed in an addition such as a garage or room. No deck or other covering shall be built over an electric meter without at least five (5) foot of head room from ground or floor level to bottom of deck or covering. No deck or covering whatsoever shall be built over any gas or water meter.
   

   c. The customer who chooses to have metered property that is restricted by locking devices must make arrangements such as furnishing HUB with keys, codes, or other special arrangements to have their meter read.
   

   d. No animals of any kind are allowed to be tethered, chained, or cabled to the conduit of electric meter bases or to any gas meter or gas meter piping.
   

   e. No menacing animal of any kind shall be tethered in such a fashion as to allow the animal to threaten, or be close enough to threaten utility workers. This includes meters that are located inside fenced areas that have animals loose within the fenced area. These animals must be restrained away from the meters even if they are inside the fence.
   

   f. Harriman Utility Board management or supervisory personnel will make the determination if an animal is considered a threat.
   

2. If the meter, for any of the above reasons cannot be read during the normal course of business, Harriman Utility Board will take one of the following steps at its discretion:

   a: In the first instance the customer’s reading will be estimated.
   

   b. The customer may be contacted to arrange a special meter reading date, or a special reading may be made solely at the option of Harriman Utility Board. A charge of twenty-five ($25.00) shall be assessed for each and every special reading made under these circumstances. A “special meter reading” shall be defined as any reading other than those made by the meter reader during the normal course of his reading route.
   

   c. If the meter readers repeatedly have trouble reading a customer’s meter and/or the customer does not cooperate in arranging a special meter reading and/or the customer refuses to pay a “special meter reading “charge. The customer will receive a notice from Harriman Utility Board that their service will be disconnected in ten (10) days if arrangements satisfactory to Harriman Utility Board are not made.