Travis Lorden loves driving. This is a boon working as a Meter Services Specialist as our team averages about 50,000 miles a year on their trucks.

“After doing this job for a couple of years, I don’t think I could sit back in an office,” Travis said. “I love being out and about in rural New Hampshire. I don’t get sick of it. It’s gorgeous.”

Beyond getting out to enjoy New Hampshire’s natural beauty, Travis’ role is wide-ranging and always presents something new. His work takes him to a variety of places and a variety of situations. Like other meter specialists, Travis primarily connects and disconnects services, audits meters to make sure they have not been tampered with and replaces meters as need be. He has been around enough bug-infested meters to see the havoc they wreak on electronics.

Sometimes, the work also involves digging deeper to meet the needs of our members. Why is that meter issuing a fatal access error?

Disconnecting service for non-payment (DNP) is also part of what Travis does, which one would expect to be the least appealing part of the job. As Travis, and our other meter technicians have found, not everything is as it seems. Sometimes, a credit card used for autopay has not been updated. Other times meters have been turned off and there is the follow up to figure out what’s happened – is it a summer home that just hasn’t turned electricity back on for the season or an abandoned property?

Even in difficult situations involving a DNP where a payment plan has not been worked out, Travis said members mostly appreciate the work he does.

“The majority of people understand that I’m just doing my job. It’s nothing personal,” he said. “There’s a human side to it, but when people are presented with the reality, they usually understand.”