How to Read Your Meter

The dials on your meter indicate the number of kilowatt-hours you have used since the previous reading.  One kilowatt is 1,000 watts.  For example, you use one-kilowatt hour when you burn one 100-watt light bulb for ten hours.

1. Most electric meters have dials like watch faces lined in a row. Every other dial moves counterclockwise.
2. Stand directly in front of your meter. Looking at dials from an angle can distort the reading.
3. If the dial hand is positioned exactly on a number (see above, the second dial from left), look at the dial to the immediate right. If the pointer on the right-side dial has passed “0”, then write down the number the pointer is on. (In the example above, you would record the second dial as “6”.) If the pointer on the right-side dial has not passed “0”, write down the next lowest number on the dial you are recording.

The reading for a five-dial meter in the example above would be 16,064-kilowatt hours. The reading for a four-dial meter would be 6064-kilowatt hours. If you have any questions, please contact us.