Delivering mail and reading meters
Utility companies can now request that Swiss Post mail carriers also read Swiss households’ electricity, water and gas meters while on their delivery rounds. This new service is being launched as part of Swiss Post’s partnership with IT service provider Avectris.
The Swiss Post mail carriers will use an app on their letter and parcel scanner to read the meters.
Swiss Post will be responsible for on-site meter readings, while Avectris will bring its technical expertise in developing the app and digitizing the service.
Swiss Post will take on its first contract to read electricity meters for Elektrizitätswerke des Kantons Schaffhausen AG (EKS) from next month (October).
In a statement issued today (22 September), Swiss Post said: “Until the end of the year, readings will initially be limited to specific regions, before being expanded to EKS’s entire Swiss supply area in January 2017.”
As previously reported, Swiss Post has started diversifying into other areas beyond mail – including delivering fruit and vegetables – in order to maximise the return from its delivery staff. As the company said in today’s statement: “As letter carriers visit over four million Swiss households on their delivery rounds almost every day and enjoy the great trust which customers place in them, Swiss Post is perfectly positioned to develop such supplementary and supporting services.”
