How to read your electric meter

Ever wonder exactly how they're reading those little dials on that electric meter? Well now you are going to find out that it really wasn't all that difficult. A kilowatthour meter registers the amount of electric energy used in homes and businesses. It is a cumulative recorder like the odometer in your car. There are four or five dials on the face of the kilowatthour meter. Each dial has 10 numbers and an arrow. Every other dial is numbered counter clockwise. The arrows follow the direction of the numbers and move only when you are using electric.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Paper
• Pen

1. Stand in front of your meter. Read and record each dial starting from the right dial moving left. You will notice what I like to call 5 "clock" type dials, lettered E,D,C,B,A. Each "clock" will have it's own number for it's reading. ****When the arrow is between two numbers, write down the smaller number. (The number that the arrow has just passed.) ****When the arrow seems to be directly on the number Ex: the second "clock" over #2, look back to the "clock" to it's right. If the arrow on the "clock" to the right has passed the #0 , write down the number for the left "clock", which the arrow seems to be on. -But if the arrow had not passed the #0 , then the arrow on the left is not directly on the number, so write down the lower number instead.
2. Your electric bill tells you the current and previous reads to figure your bill and their dates. Take the current reading Examples: 7 from the first "E" dial,5 from the "D" dial 9 from the "C" Dial 3 from the "B" dial and 3 from the last "clock". Take these numbers and subtract them from your previous reading.
   Example: 75245. Your new read would be 688 kWh used.
3. A thermal demand meter has two arrows: red and black. The red moves back and forth as usage varies and shows the amount of load at that time. The black arrow is pushed to its position by the red pointer. It stays at the highest point that the red pointer reached since the last read. This is reset at each reading. This is read for billing purposes.
4. Compare your figures with the figures on your bill to make sure there are no mistakes.

Tips & Warnings

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