How to Read Your Hydro Meter

How to Read an Electric Meter:

The electric meter at your home or business records the electrical energy in kilowatt hours (kWh's) - or thousands of watt-hours.

  • Most meters have 4 or 5 dials.
  • The dials are read from the left to the right. We have numbered the dials on the example below - numbered from 5 to 1. You record the hands in order - left to right - 5,4,3,2,1.
  • Some of the dials move in a clockwise direction while others move counter-clockwise.
  • All hands on the dials move from 0 to 1 to 2 to 3.
  • If a hand is between two numbers, the lower of the two numbers should be read. There is one exception to the rule - if the hand is between 0 and 9, then you record the number on that dial as a 9.

Example of a 5 Dial Electric Meter
Dials are numbered:

#5 #4 #3 #2 #1
Dial 5 Dial 4 Dial 3 Dial 2 Dial 1
The meter reading is:
8 4 8 9 5

The example above:

Dial # 5 - The hand is between __8___ and __9___ or right on ____
Dial # 4 - The hand is between __4___ and __5___ or right on ____
Dial # 3 - The hand is between __8___ and __9___ or right on ____
Dial # 2 - The hand is between __9___ and __0___ or right on ____
Dial # 1 - The hand is between _____ and _____ or right on __5__

Want to submit your meter read to us on line? Click here.