To help you keep track of your monthly energy use and alert you of any discrepancies on your electric bill, it’s a great idea to know how to read an electric meter. There are a few types of meters used including digital, smart, electronic, and traditional dial meters. Below we at Burley Electrical Services would like to share a guide to reading your electrical meter.
Digital Electric Meter Units
You will see a series of numbers on a digital electric meter. Besides any numbers in red or surrounded by a red box, copy them down from left to right. Copy the second row the same way if you have two rows of numbers on your meter, a “day rate” and a “night rate” listed on your electricity bill are indicated by two rows.
How an Electronic Electric Meter Works
Unless it has an automatic scroll feature you may need to press the display button to see your reading on your electric meter. Leave out the red numbers or numbers with a red background copy the numbers from left to right.
How to Read a Smart Electric Meter
One of the most confusing meters to read are the smart electric meter. Pressing 9 will usually bring up your readings on the smart meter keypad. At the bottom of the screen you will see the abbreviation “IMP KWH” followed by 8 numbers with “kWh”. You will have to hold 6 down on the keypad until you see “IMP RO1” and a series of eight numbers if your meter records day and night readings. You will see “IMP R02” followed by another eight numbers if you press and hold 6 again, you will get a day reading. Your manual should list the steps as well and some smart meters have instructions for finding your readings listed right on the meter.
How to Understand a Dial Electric Meter
Dial meters are a challenging read. It has numbers listed between 0 and 9 and each dial on your meter turns the opposite direction of the one that comes before it. Read the dials from left to right, and should the arrow in between two numbers, use the lower number. Use the 9 and then subtract one from the previous dial in the event the arrow is between the 9 and 0. The last dial on the right can be ignored.
How to Calculate Current & Estimate Next Electricity Bill
After recording the reading on the electric meter use the electric bill from the previous bill. The meter will never reset to zero, however you will need to subtract last month’s total from your current reading. For the current month the result will be your total kWh usage. By the amount your electric company charges per kilowatt hour, multiply total kWh usage and add the fixed fees. This will be a close estimate total of your current bill. Call electric company should you notice a significant difference in the total of your actual bill when it arrives, after first double checking your math.
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Using the reading on your meter can also let you see the energy consumption and help you find solution, the certified electricians of Burley Electrical Services is readily available to perform an energy audit and help you better enhance the electrical efficiency of your homes operation. Contact us today!