How To Read Elctricity Meter

How To Read Your Electric Meter

KWH ONLY / ELECTRIC METERS

Below is an example of an 8 digit meter number. Depending on the type of meter on your property, your meter number may be 6 to 9 digits in length. If you have a standard electric meter with NO load meter, just do the following:

Stand directly in front of your electric meter, with the meter at eye level. You'll notice a series of round dials on the meter face. Each dial has ten numbers (0 - 9) and a pointer like a clock hand. The pointers advance when electricity flows through the meter, so the dials indicate the total number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) you've used.

To determine your correct meter reading, simply read the dials in order from left to right. As you read each dial, write down the number. In most cases, the pointer will be between two numbers on the dial. THE CORRECT NUMBER IS THE LOWER OF THE TWO.

When reading each dial, pay attention to which direction it runs - some dials run clockwise, and others run counterclockwise. If you're not careful, this could lead you to misread the dials. Try reading the example above. It should be read as 75,245 kWh.

When a pointer rests directly on a number, as in the second dial of this example, be sure to check the next dial to the right. If that pointer has not passed zero, as shown here, the number on the previous dial has not yet been reached. Therefore the second dial above should be read as five, not six. The correct reading for this meter, then, is 75,933 kWh.

To determine how much electricity you've used in a month, we subtract the latest meter reading from the previous month's meter reading.

In the examples shown above, the difference between the two readings is 688 kWh (75,933 kWh - 75,245 kWh = 688 kWh). So if these readings were taken for consecutive months, you would be billed for 688 kWh of electricity.

ELECTRIC LOAD / ELECTRICITY METERS
KWH and KW / KVA

If you use 1,000 or more kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, you may be able to reduce your monthly electric bill by taking advantage of load management metering and rate option. If so, your electric meter will have either an electronic digital display or an additional mechanical indicator called a load meter. These types of meters allow us to measure and record your highest peak demand for electricity each month (measured in 30 minutes time periods)

Mechanical load meters

You can read a mechanical load meter yourself. One type of load meter, shown here, has a large needle that moves along a calibrated scale around the meter face. The scale measures kilowatts (kW). The needle indicates the highest peak load since the meter was last read. As when reading the round dials, if the needle is between two marks the lower one is read. In this example, the needle registers 21 kW.

Another type of load meter has two large needles moving along a kilowatt scale. One needle indicates the highest 30-minute peak load since the last meter reading; the other needle, with a red tip, measures how much electricity is flowing into your home at the moment. As shown in this example, the load is currently 10.0 kW and the maximum 30-minute load was 18.5 kW. The load reading you would enter is 18.5.

This load meter uses three small dials, similar to the electric usage meter, to measure peak load. The vertical black line between the dials indicates the decimal point. Thus, this load meter reads 0.07 kW.

Electronic load meters
This meter is programmed for each application. The electricity data is available in addition to other meter set up information in series of numbers displayed. This meter is common with Time-Of-Use (TOU) and time-of-day demand metering. A variation of the meter is the 'Interval Metering' required for more advanced contracts / relationships with electric utilities. The interval meter may also require a telephone line dedicated to the special electricity meter.