The teachings herein disclose a method and apparatus for preventing excessive battery passivation in an electronic meter-reading module. The module operates in a low-power state most of the time. The low-power state is interrupted at defined transmit times, wherein the module temporarily turns on or otherwise activates an included communication transmitter, for the transmission of data to a remote node reachable through a wireless communication network. Because of its low current draw during the times between data transmissions, the module's battery is vulnerable to passivation layer buildup. Advantageously, however, the module is configured to perform dummy activations of its transmitter at times other than the defined transmit times, e.g., in the intervals between data transmissions. These dummy activations are not for data transmission, but rather are temporary activations of the relatively high-power transmitter, for reducing passivation layer buildup on the battery in advance of a next data transmission.