Automation in the Prospect County Council from metering to billing

The authors trace the developments in the metering practices of Prospect County Council as adaptive strategies were implemented to deal with the needs generated by Government encouraged micro economic reform. The principal agent for strategic change has been tariff development and it is shown that to `expect almost anything´ of government pressure in this area was the wisest approach and the one that was chosen. Next in the list of pressures encountered was the need to reduce staff to save wages costs to catalyse further efficiency directed change. Automation proved to be the solution to these problems. Metering equipment is sourced from Europe and the USA as well as Australia and New Zealand. It is shown that the solutions adopted have had high regard for maintaining standards of customer service, in particular in the area of account integrity