Your electric bill
is calculated in kilowatt-hours or
the number of kilowatts of power times
hours of use in the monthly billing
period. By reading your electric meter
on a monthly basis, and subtracting
the previous months reading, you can
determine the number of Kilowatts
that you consume in one monthly.
Your meter might be either digital
or analog. A digital meter actually
displays the numbers just like a calculator
across the front of the meter face. An Analog
meter looks more like the configuration shown below.
Notice that some of the dial hands
on the meter above turn "clockwise"
and some turn "counter-clockwise."
Look at the first dial, it is turning
"clockwise," and the hand
is between the "7" and the
"8." Record the number that
the hand just passed - (in this case
"7").
The second dial is turning "counter-clockwise"
and is just past the "3",
so that is the next number to write
down and so on.
Look at the dial to the right of the
dial being "read." If the
hand on the right has moved past "zero,"
write down the number the hand on
the left is pointing to-(using the
same dials it would be the "7").
If the hand on the right is not past
"zero," then write down
the next lowest number on the dial
being "read." In this illustration,
the meter reads "73256"
at this time.
Now take the meter reading from last
month and subtract the meter reading
from this month. The result is the
total amount of kilowatt-hours that
you used in one month. This figure
fluctuates as a function of the time
of year with regard to the weather,
the quantity and types of appliances
within your home, the energy efficiency
of appliances within your home and
the level of energy conservation within
a residence.
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