Reading Your Meter

Your electricity meter measures the amount of electricity you use in kilowatt-hours (kWh). For example, a 100-watt light bulb burning for 10 hours uses one kWh.

 

 

Tips

• Read your meter often and observe the weather and the applications you are using to help you manage energy consumption and evaluate the effectiveness of your appliances.
• Digital meters read like the mileage odometer in your car.
• Dial meters have dials that represent one digit in the total number of kilowatt-hours you’ve used since the last time your meter was read.

• The hands of the dials move in the same direction as the counting order of the numbers from 0 to 9. Keep in mind that the first, third and fifth dials are numbered clockwise, while the second and fourth dials are numbered counterclockwise.
• Write down the number that each hand just passed.
• If a hand is directly on a number, look at the dial to its immediate right. If that dial’s hand has just passed zero, write down the number that the left dial is pointing to. If the dial to the right has not passed zero yet, write down the last number that the dial on the left has passed.

In the example below, the dials indicate a meter reading of 53607.

Once you’ve learned how to read your meter, it’s easy to figure out how much electricity you’ve used since your last electricity bill:

1)      Look at last month’s electric bill to find the recorded reading.

2)      Subtract last month’s reading from the number you just took off your meter.

3)      The result is the total number of kilowatt-hours you’ve used since your last reading.

Your meter is read once a month. Because of weekends, holidays or the length of the month, the total days between each meter reading may vary. This is why it’s possible for your monthly usage to increase or decrease from the previous billing period even though your average daily use remains the same.