Once a month??? Here they come once a year!
They put up a note on the front door or house bulletin board (yes, the wooden kind, most apartment buildings still have that) a few weeks before the reading, stating the date and "between 8 and 11 AM". Then you have to be at home and wait or call for an extra reading at your own expenses. Or you can read it yourself and send the PoCo a postcard.
And in Vienna we have something that doesn't exist any more anywhere else - the gas man! He comes round with a big black wallet and collects the gas and electricity bills - cash. You _can_ pay via bank account, but you don't have to.
