How to actually read a electricity meter

D

DCS

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So was wondering if someone here could help me understand how to read an electricity meter and work out daily usage

So it has 6 digits right... do you subtract the latest reading from the previous reading and divide by the number of days?

Doing that gives me a reading of 355kWh a day... doesn't seem right... After some googling some places say ignore the last digit... but others don't...

On a related note if I do ignore the last digit the daily usage is 35 kWh... Does that seem normal for a house of 4 people with 2 flats attached (6 folk in total using 2 geysers)

Thanks everyone!
 
last 2 numbers will generally be < 1kw.

eg

0009.35

=9.35 KW

So, take the leftmost 4 digits, and subtract from last month for usage, then divide by days in month.
35KW seems high, but feels right.

Go buy some solar geysers stat!
 
lsheed_cn said:
last 2 numbers will generally be < 1kw.

eg

0009.35

=9.35 KW

So, take the leftmost 4 digits, and subtract from last month for usage, then divide by days in month.
35KW seems high, but feels right.

Go buy some solar geysers stat!
Click to expand...
Only the last digit is shown as a fraction... (1 / 10)... So I can subtract the first 5 digits right?

And we do have a solar geyser on the main house
 
35kwh per day seems on the low side for 6 people and 2 geysers. But it is the right order of magnitude.
 
Sinbad said:
35kwh per day seems on the low side for 6 people and 2 geysers. But it is the right order of magnitude.
Click to expand...
Well that's a good thing

The reason I'm asking these questions is I got a email after submitting my readings saying that due to excessive usage my account is going under a high usage audit and will be billed a estimated amount

Though perhaps they forgetting about the decimal point
 
Should add - if you're doing 35KW a day, that breaker seems rather underwhelming, and probably too old.
I'd also get something with earth leakage.
The wiring could also be fixed up.
 
lsheed_cn said:
Should add - if you're doing 35KW a day, that breaker seems rather underwhelming, and probably too old.
I'd also get something with earth leakage.
The wiring could also be fixed up.
Click to expand...
Underwhelming? As in need a higher capacity breaker?

Thanks for the advice!
 
DCS said:
Underwhelming? As in need a higher capacity breaker?

Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...

I'm random person on the internet. Don't take my advice as gospel.
That said -
I can't read the value on the breaker there either.
I don't know how other stuff is wired in, but typically I'd want to see newer breakers, as that looks pretty ancient.
At least get something with Earth Leakage.
 
No ways. 60 Amps is more than plenty to support 35kwh per day.

60 amps is 12.5kw, which at full tilt is like 300kwh per day
 
lsheed_cn said:
I'm random person on the internet. Don't take my advice as gospel.
That said -
I can't read the value on the breaker there either.
I don't know how other stuff is wired in, but typically I'd want to see newer breakers, as that looks pretty ancient.
At least get something with Earth Leakage.
Click to expand...
Earth leakage will be on the DB, not at the meter.
 
Sinbad said:
No ways. 60 Amps is more than plenty to support 35kwh per day.

60 amps is 12.5kw, which at full tilt is like 300kwh per day
Click to expand...


IMHO Doesn't look nearly thick enough wire to support 60amps current draw.
Hard to tell from the photo, but that doesn't look like 13mm wire to me.
That breaker is also ancient, and should be replaced.


Not wanting to argue though, neither of us have enough info to make anything more than an educated guesstimate.
 
Breaker says 60 :)
The one in my meter box is even older
 
The meter and the breaker both belong to the supplier, and cannot be changed by you, even if you wanted to. They look fine to me...
 
Isheed is usually on the money with electrical advice but it seems like today he drank some of the fruits juice that was left out for to long

Nothing wrong with that circuit breaker. Just because it looks old doesnt means is requires replacement.
No Earth Leakage required in the meter box
Size of cable will be determined not just by the current requirement but also distance to the point of consumption - which is an unknown here

When did 13mm2 become a cable size
 
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