UNDERSTANDING YOUR RESIDENTIAL ELECTRIC METER
Your electric meter is designed to accurately measure the amount of electricity your home is using. At SWRE, we understand how important accurate meter reading and billing is to our customers. The following information will help you understand how your meter works and how you can assist our meter readers to read and record your meter reading each month.

kWh
The electricity you buy from SWRE is measured in kilowatt-hours. This measure reflects the number of kilowatts of electricity you use in a given period of time. A kilowatt is equal to 1,000 watts. If you turn on ten 100-watt light bulbs for one hour, you will use one kilowatt-hour of electricity.

The electric meter on your home measures the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity you use each month to heat your home and power your lights, water heater, refrigerator, television, clock radio and other appliances. Your meter may be either a dial meter or a digital meter.

SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH MY METER!
Think something might be wrong with your meter? Please give us a call! Tampering with an electric meter is dangerous. Touching an energized meter socket could cause serious injury or death. Meter tampering also constitutes a criminal offense, which could result in fines or imprisonment. If you suspect a problem with your meter, please don’t tamper with it! Please call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-256-7973.

Southwest Rural Electric Co-op collects meter readings in three ways.

METER READERS
Roughly 100% of our meters are read by SWRE meter readers or contractors. SWRE attempts to read your meter every month, however, the safety of our meter readers is very important and the presence of a locked gate, an un-shoveled path or an unleashed dog may mean that the reader is unable to access your meter.

Instructions for reading both Dial Meters and Digital Meters are detailed below.

A dial meter has on its face a revolving disk and a series of dials and pointers. When an electric current passes through the meter, the disk rotates at a speed that depends on the watts of electricity you’re using at the time. The more electricity you use, the faster the disk moves. Each revolution of the disk measures a precise amount of electricity and the measurement is shown by the position of the pointers on the dials.

Some meters have four dials; some have five dials. Each dial has 10 numbers and a pointer and is numbered in an alternating clockwise and counter clockwise manner. The pointers follow the direction of the numbers and advance only when you are using electricity.

HOW TO READ YOUR DIAL METER

1. Stand directly in front of your meter.
2. Read and record each dial starting from the right and moving left
3. When the dial pointer is between two numbers, record the smaller number (the number the pointer has just passed).
4. When the pointer seems to be directly on the number, look at the dial to the right. If the pointer on the dial to the right has passed zero (0), write down the number for the left dial, which the pointer seems to be on. If the pointer on the dial to the right has not passed zero, the pointer on the left dial is not yet directly on the number, so record the lower number.

Here's an example:

• Dial 1 is on 1; record 1
• Dial 2 is on 0; record 0
• Dial 3 is on 8; record 8
• Dial 4 is between 7 and 8; record 7
• Dial 5 is on 2 but dial 4 hasn’t made the full revolution to 0; record 1
  The reading is 17801.

Now a second example:

• Dial 1 is between 1 and 2; record 1
• Dial 2 is between 1 and 2; record 1
• Dial 3 is between 0 and 9; record 9
• Dial 4 is between 0 and 9; record 9
• Dial 5 is on 2 but dial 4 hasn’t made the full revolution to 0; record 1
  The reading on this meter is 19911.

Your monthly SWRE electric bill will tell you your current and previous meter reading, and the dates of those readings.

A digital meter measures the amount of electricity you used and displays this usage on a liquid crystal display (LCD).

HOW TO READ YOU DIGITAL METER

A digital meter records electricity usage in the same manner that a car's odometer records mileage. You read the numbers from left to right.

In the illustration, the September reading is 52316 kilowatt-hours.

The October reading is 53859 kilowatt-hours.

Your monthly SWRE electric bill will tell you your current and previous meter reading, and the dates of those readings.