"That one probably costs us about $150 to read," said Steven Foran, Nova Scotia Power senior metering engineer.

Other reads require a helicopter to reach or can also be severely affected by winter weather.

"Our reading costs are probably somewhere between 25 cents and $150 a read," Foran said. "Obviously the vast majority of them are down in the 50 cent range."

Stories of hard to read meters abound at utility companies across the country, and Nova Scotia Power is no different. And, like other utilities, it is trying to find a way to reduce the costs, and possible hazards, associated with these remote reads.

That's why a trial of a satellite-based AMR system was immediately attractive to the utility, as was a local incentive.

"The opportunity that was presented, to assist a local company in developing a product with world-wide market appeal, was one of the reasons we agreed to test this technology," he said.

The local company in question is Seimac Limited of Halifax. It is building the transmitters used by the system.

Together, with the California-based Global Energy Metering Service (GEMS), Seimac hopes to show the worthiness of using space-age technology to read electric meters. The California firm has been conducting LEO trials since May 1995.

Starting in February, Nova Scotia Power placed eight satellite units in various areas of the province.

"Primarily we've been choosing difficult access locations: mountain tops, cellular towers, indoor locations, sub-station locations and locked or restricted areas," Foran said. "Most of them have been outdoors."

Because an LEO orbits the world every 90 minutes or so, it can pass over a metered area a number of times in a day.

For the Nova Scotia trial the meters transmitted signals for six hours a day. Because there can be some transmission difficulties, the satellite will try to pick up the signal on each pass. It can "hit" each meter up to 14 times a day, but the average is about six hits. From this information, an accurate read can be gained.

So far, the trial has shown that some locations are harder to hit than others.

"One transmitter, for a meter with three or less hits a day, is within an inch-and-a-half of a steel wall," Foran said. "We think that is causing a lot of the problems with the transmission."

Others, such as one inside a metal building in an industrial park, have performed well.

Overall, Foran is happy with the tests, but he doesn't see satellite technology being used exclusively at Nova Scotia Power. It's still too expensive for the average read.

"As more people adopt satellite technology, it will become more competitive with other forms," he said.

The Nova Scotia trial is continuing with the original transmitters, and will expand when the next generation of machines is ready in a few months.

"Right now it's not one integrated device. The transmitter is separate from the meter so we're going to work with Seimac until it is self contained."

He considers this a needed step in the evolution of satellite metering.

"For a utility it's very important," he said. "When the (transmitting) unit is inside, we can use the same personnel that we're using today to install the satellite meter."

Currently, with the transmitter outside of the meter, the installation requires additional personnel.

"Once it's self-contained, it will be much simpler from an installation and operational perspective," Foran said.