Understanding Your Meter
Reading your meter is easy once you know one basic rule. That is, the dials run in different directions. One goes clockwise, the next counter-clockwise, and so on. Read the pointers from left to right, recording the smaller of the two numbers on either side of the pointer. The meter below, for example, is showing 8,058 kilowatt-hours.



The first dial looks like it could read "7", "8", or "9". The tricky part to reading a meter is to remember that each dial position depends on the dial to the right of it - much like a car's odometer. For example, the farthest left dial will not advance a number until the pointer on the dial to its right makes a complete circle.

If a pointer is directly over a number (as in the first dial), look at the dial on its right to figure out what the number should be. If the pointer on that dial has passed zero, the reading is the number the pointer is covering. But if the pointer on the right has not passed zero, the reading is one less than the number it seems to be pointing at. In the diagram, the dial to the right of the first one has passed zero so therefore the first dial reads "8".