YABU, I used to be a meter reader and left the job because I got fed up of daily abuse ranging from general tutting and huffing to having people literally screaming at me because their bills were so high.
They can't help which rounds they are given and each area comes up on a 3 month loop so they are read 4x a year whether you submit them yourself or not, unfortunately not everybody is honest with their readings and the gas/electric companies like them read independently.
As for the safety check, yes we were told to do that, it's only a quick general glance but I've seen meters that had started to melt and the customer hadn't noticed and come across loads of gas meters with small leaks that people couldn't smell ebcause the cupboard was blocked with so much junk, it's a pain in the arse when we found one as it took up more of our time having to report it, we also had to check for tampering as again not everyone is honest, I've seen gas meters turned to face the other way and electric meters with holes drilled in the front to wedge something in to stop it turning. It's theft and costs the companies thousands a year that is added onto everyones bills.
Regarding pay, they aren't paid to go back, you have a set number of 'reads' a day and you have to hit 75%, anything less and you get a bollocking, any more and it adds up for your bonus which isn't much, a decent bonus might give you £100 a month.
They like you to work until 8pm at night because a lot of people are out at work in the day but people get incredibly rude if you knock late or moan if they haven't had it read recently. The winter was the worst with the dark nights as people seem to think it's late if you knock at 4.30.
Even if you don't want to let the meter reader in it's very helpful if you could just call the numbers out to them, the rounds are often long straight ones which can take 3-4 hours to do the first time round, they then have to go back to the beginning and do the call backs, then walk back to the car again at the end.