Salmon River Electric Co-Op

1140 E. Main Ave., * P.O. Box 384 *
Challis, Idaho. 83226
(208) 879-2283
Fax: (208) 879-2596
Outage: (208) 879-4900

Meter Reading Instructions

The kilowatt-hour meter is a highly accurate and reliable instrument used to measure electrical energy consumed by the user during the month. Sometimes the users will feel last months billing was high and the fault must be with a 'fast' meter. These users might find it of interest to know that meters rarely malfunction and record electricity usage incorrectly but in those rare instances when they do, more often than not, they under record the electrical usage.

HOW TO READ YOUR METER. Basically, there are two types of meters used by power companies, the cyclometer type and the dial type registers. The cyclometer is read directly, as shown in the following examples.

READING CYCLOMETER REGISTERS
4-dial x1 register		= 3550 KWHRS
5-dial x1 register		= 3550 KWHRS
4-dial x10 register		= 3550 KWHRS

A five-dial type register would read from right to left as units, tens,hundreds,thousands, and ten thousands.

The internal gearing is arranged in multiples of 10 to 1 ratios. The units dial must complete ten revolutions before the tens complete one revolution. Likewise, the tens dial must complete ten revoultions before the hundreds dial will complete one revolution, and so forth for the thousands and ten thousands dial.

The following example of a five-dial meter should read as 72020.

<- Start reading here.

Start with the dial on the far right.
Record the last number the pointer has passed. If the pointer is between numbers, the lower number is taken.

If the previous meter reading was 70,289, the electrical energy consumed during the reading interval would obviously be 72020 minus 70289 or 1,731 kilowatt-hours.