If your gas meter is indoors, you probably remember when the gas company installed this. It's a device that sends a unique signal with your reading.
Previously, gas meter readers had to enter your home to read the meter if it was inside your house.
Columbia Gas spokesperson Chris Kozac told us, "That was the source of a lot of our complaints. You've underestimated, you've overestimated, the catchup's too much, it's not enough-- so this is going to eliminate all of that."
Columbia Gas installed the transmitting devices on meters so a car equipped with an special reader could automatically put your reading into a computer.
Kozac says, "It's simple, very fast, and saves you money. It was a real cost for the meter reader to go out and to walk every door every other month. They do about 400 a day. This allows us to do 4,000 a day."
That means some people will lose their jobs. But Columbia Gas spent $9 million to install the devices, employing 70 people for five years.
Also, the cost savings to Columbia Gas will eventually lower your gas bill. Think of it as a little monthly stimulus check in your pocket.
Columbia Gas installed the devices throughout northwest Ohio first. Over the next several years, it will install them across the state and those cost savings will hopefully lower gas bills even more.
