How To Read Your Meter

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If you can tell time, you can read an electric meter. If you cannot tell time, you can still read an electric meter with a few simple instructions on reading electric meters. Reading an electric meter is really simple if you are looking at a digital one as you read it just like you would a car odometer, but for instances where you have to read an electric meter with a set of dials across it, the reading is not as apparent.

Steps

1. Read the dials from left to right. Read the meter just as you would if you were reading a book or a set of numbers. Begin on the left. Mark the numbers down. After you mark a number for each dial across, you have the electric meter reading.
2. Do not let the direction of the numbers confuse you. Some of the dials will be numbered clockwise. The other dials may be numbered counter clockwise.
3. Look where the arrow is pointing. If the arrow is pointing between 2 numbers, the reading is the smaller number. If the arrow is pointing directly on a number, verify what the number should be by referencing the dial to the right of it. If the arrow on that dial is past zero, the reading on the original dial is the number the arrow is pointing to. If the arrow on the right hand dial is not to or past the zero yet, the reading on the original dial is the number before the one the arrow seems to be pointing to.
4. Find out how your electric company reads the last dial. Some companies round up to the next highest number. Other companies record the number that the arrow is closest to. If you are interested in calculating your kilowatt hours on your own and getting a calculation close to what the electric company does, it is beneficial to know how the company reads this last number.
5. Check for K-10 or K-20 markings on the meter. These meters read by the tens or twenties of kilowatt hours. To get a calculation, multiply the reading by ten or by twenty, depending on the number on the meter.
6. Calculate your kilowatt hours used. Most electric companies do not reset the meter to zero after every reading. This means, to calculate the number of kilowatt hours you have used, you need to keep track of consecutive readings. Subtract the current reading from the last reading to get the most recent kilowatt hours used.

Sources and Citations

• http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/Mod1/test/meter.asp

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