Reading My Meter

Reading your meter is easy to do. And by keeping an eye on it, you can manage your energy more efficiently.

The first step involves finding your meter. If you don't know where it is already, here are some hints:

• Your meter should be near the main electrical panel of breakers or fuses.
• It is usually located on the outside of your house or apartment.
• It is about 5 feet above ground level.
• It has a round glass bowl that contains four or five small dials, which look like tiny clocks.
• If you find several meters on the wall, yours will be labeled with the same number that appears on your Santa Clara Municipal Utilities bill.

How to Read Your Meter

1. Your meter has either 4 or 5 round dials with the numbers 0 through 9 around the perimeter. The hands point to a number on the dial and rotate in alternating directions, as shown in the example below.

   

2. To read your meter, write down the numbers on the dials from left to right. If a hand is between two numbers, use the lower number. If a hand is directly on a number, look at the dial on the right to see if the hand has moved past zero. If it has not passed zero, write down the lower number.
3. You now have a 4- or 5-digit number, depending on the number of dials on your meter. This number is your current meter reading.
4. Subtract your previous meter reading in the Usage section of your bill from the one you have just determined to figure out how many kilowatt-hours have been used since the last reading. For example: The meter above reads 15,931.