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How to read a 24hr electricity meter
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Many homes in Ireland still have older 24hr meters, whether mechanical or electronic. These require you to submit readings to your supplier to get accurate bills, so it’s important that you know how to do it.
Reading a mechanical meter
On a mechanical rotating dial meter there is a single analogue display showing your cumulative electricity consumption. This tells you how much electricity the property has used in total. To read this meter you should:
- Read all of the numbers on the display from left to right.
- Ignore any numbers on the right hand side in red, or which are in a red box.
- Include any 0 digits at the start of the reading on the left.
Reading an electronic meter
If you have an electronic 24hr meter, then a figure for your cumulative electricity consumption can be found on a digital display.
- Read all the digits on the display from left to right.
- Include any 0 digits at the start of the reading on the left.
Getting recent electricity usage
If you want to know how much electricity you have used in a billing period from your 24hr meter, you simply have to subtract the value of the previous meter reading from the latest one.
If you have night storage heating
If you have 24hr electricity, but also have night storage heating, then you may have two separate electricity meters. One of these will display the usage of the night storage heaters, and must be read separately in the same way.
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