Reading Your Meter

The electric meter measures your consumption in kilowatt hours (kWh). A kilowatt hour is a 1,000 watts of electricity used in one hour or its equivalent. Electricity meters usually have four or five clock-like faces or dials.

The indicators on each dial will move in opposite directions from each other. But in all cases they will graduate from 0 to 1 to 2 and so on until they reach full circle. From the right dial to the left dial these faces represent units, tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on. Starting from the right, each dial must make one complete revolution to register 1incremental unit on the dial to the left. When a meter has gone full cycle, the process is repeated.

When you read your meter, start from the right and jot the numbers down. If the pointer has not yet reached a number, read the lower number. In the graphic above, right to left, the first number is 9, the second is 3, the third is 1, and the fourth is 5 for a reading of 5,139. To determine your consumption, subtract the previous reading from the present reading.

Your meter has been tested using Measurement Canada Standards and sealed for your protection before installation. It is regularly inspected. If you have any questions call us.

How To Read & Submit Your Meter Numbers:

• When a hand points between two figures you read the smaller figure. ("9" is smaller than "0") Example reading shown above is 75139.
• Note: Some meters have fixed zeros ("0") for one of their dial faces. They will not move with the other odometers. The 0 must be recorded.
• To submit a meter reading to Essex Powerlines online please use our online eCare Account.

eCare Account Login