Rathmines Closes its Doors

Metering Services operation, now known as Meter Asset Management, finally moved to South Lotts Road, leaving its longtime home in Gulistan Terrace, Rathmines, for the last time.

The Rathmines Meter Workshop building has a long and proud association with electricity and ESB. It started its life as a generating station in the 1890s and was taken over by ESB as a workshop as far back as 1928. Originally there were a number of operations based in Rathmines, including metering, service and instrument repair and stores. Over the years, the focus has narrowed to concentrate on metering and the staff numbers have reduced accordingly. However, the legend that was Rathmines will always remain in ESB folklore.

To properly recognise this milestone in ESB history, an openday was held in Gulistan Terrace on October 4th. But to show that metering is not just some ancient art form, one of the latest multifunction electronic meters was also on display: fully operational, with one of the new state-of-theart test kits on hand to prove its accuracy.

The opening of the electricity market since 2000 has had a tremendous impact on the whole metering business, starting initially with the larger commercial and industrial customers. The effects on the larger volume domestic markets are now only starting to make themselves felt. Either way, the nature of electricity metering as we know it is set for considerable further change.

Overall, the day's activities proved a great success, a fitting farewell to the Metering Workshop in Rathmines. But the metering story doesn't end there - the metering operation continues undaunted in its new home in South Lotts Road. Call in and see us sometimes.