Reading an Electric Meter

The electric meter keeps track of the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed. Each month, a Cobb EMC representative reads the meter to determine how much electricity you have used since the last reading. Your monthly bill is based on this meter reading.

The electricity you buy from Cobb EMC is measured in kilowatt-hours. A kilowatt equals 1,000 watts, and a kilowatt-hour is 1,000 watts used for one hour. As an example, ten 100-watt light bulbs left on for one hour use one kilowatt-hour of electricity. Some appliances, like heating and cooling appliances use more.

Reading a meter is easy. Once you learn the basics, you can easily measure your own usage by simply checking your meter.

Your meter is one of two types – Dial or Digital

Dial
Read your Meter
A dial meter face usually has four or five dials. Each dial has the digits 0 to 9 around its edge and a pointer in the middle, somewhat like a clock. The pointers turn when electricity is being used, but because they move so slowly, you can hardly see them turning. The dials are read from left to right. Some numbers run counter-clockwise and some run clockwise. When a pointer falls between the two numbers, the smaller number is recorded.

To read the meter in the illustration labeled January, start with the dial on the far left.

The pointer falls between the 7 and 8, so the 7 is recorded as the first digit of your meter reading. On the next dial, the pointer falls between 2 and 3, so the 2 is recorded. Continue with the remaining dials. In January, the meter reads 7235.

What is the meter reading shown in the illustration labeled February?

It reads 8390 kilowatt-hours.

Your Cobb EMC representative does not reset the meter each month, so you can see how much electricity you have consumed by simply subtracting previous month’s reading from present reading. In the example, 1155 kilowatt-hours were used between the January and February meter reading (8390-7235= 1155).
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Digital
Read your Meter
Some Cobb EMC customers have digital meters. This type of meter records electricity usage in the same way that a car’s odometer records mileage. You read the numbers from left to right.

In the illustration below, January reading is 7235 kilowatt-hours and the February reading is 8390 kilowatt-hours.

In this example, 1155 kilowatt-hours were used between the January and February meter readings (8390 - 7235 = 1155).
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