Important Facts About Meter Reading

Important Facts About Meter Reading

The reading of your meter is perhaps one of the most important phases of determining your bill. While you may sometimes doubt that your meter is inaccurately read, this is hardly the case in most instances. Find out more about this important activity below, including how to do it yourself.

What is a meter reader?

He is Meralco’s business partner.

Meter readers usually read your meter anytime within the week of your bill date. For example, if your bill date is on June 10, the meter reader will visit your home anytime from the 8th to the 12th of the next month.

Meter readers undergo trainings and seminars conducted regularly by Meralco. They must be of good moral character and must have finished at least high school.

What are his tools?

The Rover 2000 is a handheld microcomputer that stores the meter reading data of every customer. It validates that the data entered is complete and accurate and within the range of the customer’s history of electric consumption.

Binoculars are also standard issue to meter readers for meters that are inaccessible, installed in elevated places or located in distant areas.

These binoculars have a field view ranging from 87M/1000M to 314M/1000M.

What is an electric meter?

The watt-hour meter installed in your home is a precision device that measures the electricity consumption of your household.

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The meter is factory tested, re-tested and sealed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for accuracy in registering the electric consumption.

The meter has a minimum of four small dials that record your electricity consumption. Each dial is numbered from zero to nine.

Electricity flowing through the meter moves the hands by measuring kilowatthours. The meter records the number of kilowatthours used in a given billing period.

How do I read my meter?

Reading your meter is as easy as one, two, three!

Step 1

Stand directly in front of your meter and look at the four dials (A,B, C and D). Note that adjacent dials move in opposite directions. Dials A and C move counter-clockwise while Dials B and D move in a clockwise direction.

A	B	C	D

Step 2

Read the meter starting from the rightmost dial. First, read Dial D followed by Dials C, B, and A. Write down the numbers that the pointers have passed in each of the four dials. In this example, the reading on the meter is 5941.

Remember:

• When a pointer is directly pointing to a number in any of the dials, always consult the dial on its right. Look at the example on Figure 1. The pointer on Dial C points directly at 5, that’s why we should look at Dial D to determine the reading of Dial C.

Fig. 1
	C	D




• If the pointer of Dial D points directly at 0 or between 0 and 1, then Dial C will be read as 5.

Fig. 2
	C = 5	D = 1




• But if the pointer of Dial D points between 9 and 0, then Dial C will be read as 4.

Fig. 3
	C = 4	D = 9

Step 3

Write down your meter’s new reading and this will be the “present reading”. Look for the previous reading, which can be found on your bill. Then, subtract your meter’s previous reading from the present reading. The difference is the number of kilowatthours that your household has consumed since your last billing period.