Huckleberries Online

Avista Dan: Clear Path To Meter

Posted by DFO

Dec. 14, 2009 1:31 p.m. • 19 comments

We never had a regularly-in-operation snow blower when I was growing up. Excluding me, of . The driveway also had those pesky little blacktop bumps that always seemed to mess up my rhythm and jam the shovel into my gut when I got going too fast. I can still feel the handle of that wood and plastic shovel that I cursed every snow day for ruining my fort building and sledding. But alas, I’ve graduated to a real snow blower that’s pushing five years now - a gift from my mom one December. And no, it didn’t make up for not having a snow blower for the 18 years I lived at home. It was close though, especially over the last two years of record-breaking snow/Dan Kolbet/Avista. More here.

Question: Dan goes on to urge homeowners to clear paths (a shovel wide) to electric and gas meters during the first substantial snow. But Huckleberries veers off into a related question: Do you use a snowblower to clear snow? Or a shovel?

19 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Phaedrus on December 14 at 1:40 p.m.
my significant other.
Cabbage Boy on December 14 at 1:43 p.m.
Phaed, do you have her at the end of a stick? Wouldn’t it be easier to use a shovel? But I suppose as she got angry, the heat would just melt the snow.
JeanC on December 14 at 2:17 p.m.
I’d LOVE a snow blower, but the space we’ve got is too small to justify the cost of one, so it is me and a snow shovel (hubby’s back is NOT up to shoveling).
fortboise on December 14 at 2:18 p.m.
Shovel.

Growing up in Wisconsin, I did get tired of the work sometimes (although it was one of my first paying jobs in the neighborhood). Now in Boise, the work is a novelty and a pleasure.

When we got our first inch or so this year (of near-champagne powder), I saw a guy running a snowblower to spread around. Embarrassing, really.
KeithErickson on December 14 at 2:18 p.m.
I slap on my iPod and use a cheap shovel … when I have the chance, which hasn’t happened lately. My generous neighbor purchased a snowblower last year and loves it so much he’s been routinely blowing my driveway clear before I get home from work. When I went home for lunch, he had already cleared the 2 inches of snow. What a guy. Note to self: Give him some Christmas cookies for his unsolicited efforts.
Sisyphus on December 14 at 2:21 p.m.
” I saw a guy running a snowblower to spread around. Embarrassing, really.”—and I’ll bet he was all kinds of excited with the first snow of the season. You could practically blow it off the sidewalk with your lungs.
Cindy_H on December 14 at 2:23 p.m.
Four sons.
What’s a shovel?
Nick_Adams on December 14 at 2:31 p.m.
A shovel. As FortBoise points out, in Boise, it doesn’t get a whole lot of use. However, there were days when I lived in CDA that I longed for a snowthrower.
florined on December 14 at 2:41 p.m.
Both…some of the walkways are too narrow to allow the blower necessary room.

And Dan at Avista, I thought Avista went to remote meter reading. Is that not the case?
sibulsky on December 14 at 3:21 p.m.
Here in CDA, aren’t most of Avista’s gas & electric meters fitted with radios??
MikeK on December 14 at 3:33 p.m.
Steve and Florine - the City of Coeur d’Alene’s water meters have all switched to radio read - that may be what you are thinking about (it’s gotten newspaper attention more than once in the last year). I do not know if Avista has made a similar switch, and since some city residents and businesses are also on Kootenai Electric, I don’t know if they have entirely switched either. I believe that newer homes and developments likely are radio read, but unfortunately I don’t know what percentage of the city that entails.

Thus, I think Avista Dan’s suggestion is still a good one!
hmoffsuite on December 14 at 4:03 p.m.
The leader in remote meter reading is Itron, of Spokane Valley. I think Avista may have helped launch Itron, or been involved in some fashion. That is a great investment sector, imo, with the movement to smart grids coming about. What was the Avista/Itron relationship, if any?
Dan_at_Avista on December 14 at 4:14 p.m.
Yes, the Avista electric and gas meters in Idaho have Advanced Meter Reading (AMR) systems that allow us to read your meter without actually seeing it. We collect the data during drive bys or through other means. This is only the standard in Idaho. Washington has some AMR meters, but not the majority.

Much of the concern about clearing a path to meters centers on access in an emergency situation. For example, if your home catches fire and gas needs to be shut off by Avista or fire and rescue personnel, or in an electrical outage situation or examining a malfunction. A huge pile of snow on your equipment is going to be a major hindrance and a big safety hazard for everyone.
Dan_at_Avista on December 14 at 4:35 p.m.
hmoffsuite,
Avista founded Itron in 1977. We spun off the company years later. Not sure the exact date. Itron, in Liberty Lake, is still a leader in the field of utility meters.
Dan
hmoffsuite on December 14 at 4:45 p.m.
Thanks Dan. I thought so. I was in the computer business in Spokane then and knew the founders. Sure wish I had owned more of their stock. Did well tho.
hmoffsuite on December 14 at 4:47 p.m.
Incidentally, Dan. Avista was a very, very good customer of mine for several years. Thanks for your business. :~)
spokelooneh on December 14 at 5:00 p.m.
HMO, this primer on Itron says it was started in a garage in N. Idaho:

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Itron-Inc-Company-History.html
hmoffsuite on December 14 at 5:05 p.m.
Thanks, Spoke. I didn’t know that.
florined on December 14 at 5:11 p.m.
I’m not sure what all Itron produces now, but the original product was the meter reader invented by 2 local guys, one of whom later died in an accident. I’m not sure when WWP joined up with them. At least that’s the info I had from bridge games with one of the guys and the wife of the other. Maybe my memory of details is not good. And it doesn’t matter now. Let me just say thanks to all those folks who don’t get to hole up in front of a fireplace when the storms knock down lines…and that includes the folks in the office that have to take the calls.

Last year it didn’t occur to me that anyone needed to get to my meters. Now that I’m better informed, I’ll try to do better.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.