Reading Your Meter

Meters are installed by the Company to record the electrical energy and, in large installations, the maximum demand used by customers.

Reading Your Standard Meter

An electric meter is a precision instrument that accurately measures the amount of electricity which you use.

On the face of the meter are four or five round dials. Each dial has ten numbers and a pointer like the hand of a clock. The pointers turn only when the electricity is being used, and they turn so slowly that you can hardly see them move. As the dial to the right moves one full turn (from zero around to zero again) the dial to the left moves one full unit. For example, when the dial on 'D' goes around one full turn, 'C' moves one unit. When 'C' moves one full turn, 'B' moves one digit. Let's try reading the four dial meter below:

First notice that the dials do not all run in the same direction. In this example you will read the dials from right to left and record the readings in the same sequence from right to left.

  1. On the right hand dial D as shown above, read the last number that the pointer has just passed (i.e. the lower number).
  2. Read the last number passed on the dial C and write it to the left of the first number.
  3. Read the last number passed on the dial B. 4. Read the last number passed on the dial A. When you put all the numbers together your reading should be: 1496 kWh.

Note: If you prefer to read the meter left to right the numbers should be recorded in the same sequence from left to right to get the correct reading of 1496 kWh.