Further to David and Caroline Reiling’s letter about ARMS (The Sunday Times, October 28), it is clear that ARMS makes no allowance for the fact that many of us have to use air conditioning in the summer months. For my wife and I this period is approximately from mid-June to mid-September, with fans sufficing for a time either side of this period.

What ARMS really needs to do is to read the meters more frequently. I suggest a reading at the beginning of June, followed by one at the end of September and another in early February. Our last meter reading was on May 31; this is fine but by the end of September our reading would be very much higher, as much as two and a half times our winter consumption. Over this period of high consumption I usually send ARMS a cheque valued in excess of the amount they demand as a means of evening out my payments.

ARMS should send out someone to read the meters at regular intervals, or better still have a computer system that can read the meters directly ‘in house’.