Q&A for How to Read an Electric Meter

I can't necessarily think of a scenario where you'd need to do this. The information on your meter is important to your electric company, but they'll send a crew out to read the meter if they need it. It's likely not going to come up very often for you.

Are you in Ireland? If so, the T stands for "total amount of imported units." You shouldn't have a T on your meter outside of Ireland so far as our research shows, though.

It means you have two different pay rates. Sometimes, utility companies will charge more for electricity during the peak hours when people are most likely to use appliances and turn on lights.

No, but we agree that it'd be really nice if they did. The variation from company to company can be pretty irritating.

Look just above the digital number for a flat disk that sits parallel to the ground. If that disk is spinning, you're consuming electricity. Just note, it'll spin very slowly, so look at it carefully!

No, include the 1 so long as the dial to the right of the 1 doesn't read 0. If it does read 0, your 1 should be counted as a zero, but only if the pointer sits directly on top of the 1.

No, a submeter cannot be reset and you should not tamper with it.

0 is actually 10. Always select the smaller number. So if the dial is between 9 and 0, you'd write down 9.

It stands for, "Tell Attendant," which means you need to call your electric company immediately, as you may have missed a payment on your bill.

You can't reset your own digital meter. Only the electric company can do so. If you want to reset your meter, give a call to the electric company to reset or change your meter.

Your meter is measuring kilowatt-hours (kwh). Subtracting the old reading from the new reading gives you the number of kwh used in the current billing period. Your electric company charges a set amount per kilowatt-hour used. Your bill will tell you what that amount is. The company may also charge an additional monthly fee.

A box fan uses about 0.6 kWh overnight. TVs vary, depending on size and whether the TV is the old CRT type or digital. Light bulbs vary, depending on the bulb wattage. If you are using only one kWh every day, you are using very little electricity. Based on what you are running, one fan, one light bulb and one TV, one kWh is below normal.

Very simple. If the previous reading didn't change, your meter needs a check up by your authorized electric company. If your meter runs very fast and high, then your meter needs replacement. If the electricity in your house is functioning, then your meter has power.

Read each meter individually. Then, subtract the current reading from last month's reading. This will give you the amount of electricity used in one month for each meter. Add the monthly amounts together to get the total monthly usage.

If you live in an apartment or some sort of subdivided building, it's possible that some common amenities are hooked up to your meter, such as hallway lights, etc. It's also useful to check through all your appliances in case one of them is on its way out (e.g., a dying fridge compressor may overwork itself, adding to electric bill). And don't forget that hot water clothing washes, long hot showers and lots of hot dish washing (hand or machine) can chew through the electricity if you're not careful.

Utility companies prosecute people for energy theft. The company I worked for has a group of people who investigate energy theft and I was paid for every energy theft I reported in addition to my regular pay. So, no, don't even try.

When you do the last step (this month minus last month), write down that number. Then take the second to last month and subtract the last month. These are your consumptions for this month and the last month. If this month's is a lower number than last month's, you have used less.

The amount of power per revolution (Kh) is usually 7.2 watt-hours. One kWh would be about 139 revolutions.